Just A Little Secret
by Jana Girl123
Summary: Huntress has been keeping a secret from Question.
1. Ponys, Plants, Secrets, and Lies

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

* * *

Vic Sage AKA The Question strolled through the halls of the Metro Tower humming a sugary pop song under his breath.

He rounded the corner towards his room, halting for just a fraction of a second when he passed the room that at one time belonged to Huntress. He frowned underneath his mask knowing that with that small acknowledgement meant an unhappy day. He didn't really like to think about her, what they had been to each other, how deeply he loved her.

He hadn't seen much less spoken to Helen in several years. That's how he dealt with pain; when something hurt, ignore it. It wasn't her fault though, it was his.

He had loved her, so, so much. That was part of the problem. The other half was that, for some reason he never really understood, she loved him too. He partially wished she didn't; he wasn't good enough for her, wasn't right for her, wasn't the type of man she deserved.

So he let her go.

It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do.

He remembered her face when he told her he wanted to end things. How confused and hurt she'd been, how she'd been barley able to choke out a simple question; why? What had she done wrong?

He couldn't even look her in the face when he said he simply didn't care about her anymore while his conscience begged him to stop hurting Helena like this. She didn't deserve it. But it was for the greater good, this way he'd be able to stop holding her back and unintentionally ruining her life.

She was just to good for him.

So she'd left their apartment that they has shared since Cadmus tortured him, tears of anger and pain streaming down her face as she yelled at him, screaming her head off and occasionally throwing things at him as she stormed out of their apartment and out of his life.

He didn't even try to defend himself. He knew he deserved it.

She said a lot of things that day. She told him she hated him and hoped he burned in Hell, called him a lot of things. Swore him out in Italian. He had to fight back every fiber in his body screaming at him to take it back and apologize and just _stop _hurting her.

He hated that he had to hurt her like that.

There wasn't a single night after that when he didn't find himself missing her and hating himself for putting the only person he loved through so much pain.

He couldn't even do a check up on her to see if she'd moved on. He knew if he did he'd end up broken and desperate for her love again and his plan would have been ruined.

He couldn't destroy her life anymore, couldn't be that selfish.

He fought back a sigh as he continued walking down the hall alone, memories of him and Helena still drifting through his mind. They were together for almost three years; most of his happier memories came from those three years. Breaking into government offices, the thrill of waking up every morning and seeing her in his bed sleeping peacefully, all those long, passionate nights of making love. . .

He shook his head, those times were over and done with.

If only for Helen's sake.

* * *

The rest of the day passed by without much significance, thoughts of Huntress occasionally drifting through his mind.

He buried himself in his work for a while, distracting himself. He absently flipped through a file as he strolled down the hall until he ran into a green blur.

"Hey watch it-oh, hi Vic." Green Arrow finished tonelessly.

Vic blinked behind his mask; Ollie hadn't talked to him in years. Again, that was partially his fault. After he ended it with Helena she had sought out Dinah as a shoulder to cry on. Dinah had been furious at him for hurting her friend and told Oliver not to talk to him. By talk, she meant threatened to stop sleeping with him. Ollie complied.

"Hello Oliver." He responded. "Where are you running off to?"

Ollie glanced around for a second as if to make sure Dinah wasn't hiding in a closet waiting to ambush him. "The med-bay."

"Is Dinah hurt?" He asked slightly surprised.

"Uh, a friend of hers is." Ollie said vaguely.

"Batgirl?"

"No. . ."

"Wildcat?"

"No. . ."

He felt his stomach turn cold as an idea formed in his head. ". . .It isn't Huntress, is it?" He asked, dreading the answer.

". . .Yeah." Ollie admitted awkwardly.

"What happened?" He exclaimed before he could stop himself.

"She was in a fight, you know, we get in those sometimes." Ollie shrugged. "Dinah said it was bad, though, blood everywhere. Why?" He asked. Ollie then realized that he was standing alone in the hallway, Question having run off to the medical rooms before he could finish.

"Crazy. . .Face-less. . .Ungrateful. . .Bastard." Ollie muttered under his breath as he walked away.

* * *

Q raced to where the examination rooms were, utterly terrified at the thought of Helena dying.

He needed her to be okay, she just had to be alright. He knew it didn't matter she was no longer his; if she was hurt he was going to be a wreck. _Please let her be okay, please let her be okay, please, please, please, dear God let her be okay! _He thought frantically speeding off to the med-bay as fast as he could.

He just needed to know she would be fine, then he could go back to the way things should be.

He reached where the injured were kept and nursed back to health, adrenaline pulsing through his veins. He saw the light on in an operating room, signaling it was in use. He stumbled over to it in a daze, trembling slightly in fear at what he'd see.

He hadn't seen Helen in seven years, had her appearance changed at all? Did she cut off her beautiful raven hair flowing past her shoulder that he used to run his hands through at night? Did she gain weight or loose her figure? Was she going to be furious if she found out he'd came by to check on her?

He felt his breath catch as he saw her. His beautiful, invincible Helena had never looked so beaten. She had a broken arm and bandages on her body, a few thin cuts on her face, and a gash on her right leg.

She was still incredibly beautiful. His shoulders sagged; he had been missing her more than he realized. Why did tragedy always seem to bring them together? Helena didn't deserve so much pain in her life.

He didn't even notice the small girl standing next to him, staring intently Helena. He was to lost in staring at her, remembering how unbelievably good it felt to have her body against his, how sweet her lips were, her dark eyes he'd feel himself getting lost in if he wasn't careful. . .

"Hey, what are you doing here?" The little girl asked. He didn't even hear her.

"Hellooooooo? Mr. Fedora-guy?" She tried again.

"Dude!" Still nothing, it was like talking to a wall.

"Hey! You with the face!" She called, knowing that applied to everyone because _everyone_ had a face.

Vic jumped, when the hell did a kid get here? He turned to face her and ask her why she was in space.

The little girl gaped at him. _He doesn't have a freaking face!_ "Whoa, dude sorry if I offended your planet or something, I thought everything had a face so it could live. Well actually plants don't, but they're not really alive. I mean they are, but not like us, like they can't go to the movies. Actually they probably could if someone brought them there, they just need help getting there I guess."

Question stared at the child. She was very tiny; short and skinny unlike most of Americas youth today. Tan with slightly frizzy charcoal hair flowing to her waist, big, intelligent blue eyes staring at him oddly, and a mouth that seemed to small for all those words to be coming out of it.

She was still talking. "Me and Mama have a few plants 'cause she doesn't want any animals, which stinks. I want an animal, you know because they're so cute. I like puppies and pony's and kittens and horses and chicks and pony's and and frogs, but I don't think frogs can turn into prince's if you kiss 'em. That would be so cool, but why would you want to try? I mean gross, kissing a frog! But um, sorry if I said something bad which I do a lot because Mama says I have a motor-mouth and Uncle Ollie says it to and he says I need to be a little quieter. Oh, I'm not being quiet, am I? Sorry, I'm shutting up now."

She closed her mouth and continued staring at him, waiting for him to do something. He tried to do a mental review of what she had told him, something about pony's and plants while trying to come up with some useful information. "You're Oliver Queens niece?"

"Mm-Hm, Uncle Ollie's like my favorite Uncle. I have a ton but I don't know them because they're bad and Mama hates them. Actually, Mama doesn't really like anyone in her family that much." She added thoughtfully.

"Why are you on the Watch Tower?" He asked in a hurry to check on Helen.

"Oh." Said the little girl sadly. "Aunt Dinah beamed me up 'cause my favoritest person in the world got hurt."

"Huntress?" He exclaimed in surprise. "How do you know her?"

The little girl looked at him oddly, as if she was trying to figure out if he was kidding or not. "She's my _Mama_!"

* * *

**A/N Just an idea that popped into my head a few months ago. I just hadn't got around to posting it until now, hope you like it. **

**A/N Read and Review**


	2. Should've, Would've, Could've, Didn't

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. It's kind of sad actually.**

**Cooper101- Read and find out:)**

**valevilandra- Okay, here ya' go!**

**-the-Green-Hornet- Yeah, I'm to much of an H/Q fan too split them up, even for a little while so I had to make this AU. I don't think Q would would ever dump Huntress, either. He likes her too much.**

**idk- Sure, I'm doing that right now.**

**Knight Watcher- Yeah, 'little secret' is kind of an oxymoron for the situation, eh, I liked it as a title.**

**ChristinaWasHere- Maybe you'll get your wish;)**

**multi-obsessed- Yeah, I kind of noticed that. But I seriously wrote this a while ago, and the plots gonna be really different, at least I think so.**

**Guest- Nope, not making it a one-shot. I was going to post this a while ago but got distracted with writing 'Switched' and 'The Cat, The Bat, and The Amazon'.**

**PrincessJazzy23- Thanks, love your avatar by the way, it's so cute:)**

* * *

"She's my _Mama_!"

Vic felt as though someone had punched him in the gut. His head swirled with questions and pain. Helena had a child? She had moved on? Why was he upset; he had wanted her to move on after all. "What?" He finally managed to choke out.

"I said she's my Mama." The little girl repeated curiously. She was still trying to figure out how the fedora-guy could talk without a mouth. She opened her mouth to ask when a voice called from behind, "Bella! There you are!"

Dinah Lance, better known to the masked world as Black Canary, walked towards them; Ollie tagging along behind her.

Her eyes stared accusingly at Vic. "What is _he _doing here?" She demanded.

"Hey, how do you talk?" Bella asked ignoring her aunt and uncle.

"Bella, honey, go to your Uncle." Dinah said stepping in front of Bella protectively.

"But I wanna know how-"

"Now." She growled. The little girl held up her hands in a surrendering motion and walked over to Oliver. "I just wanted to ask a question." She pouted.

"Why are you here?" Dinah asked, her tone colder than ice.

"Heard Huntress was hurt. Wanted to make sure she was alright." He muttered glancing at Helena. His beautiful Helena, she might have moved on but he would always love her in silence.

"You saw. Now leave." Dinah said coldly.

"Had a daughter. Cute kid, must get it from Helen." He continued not ever wanting to take his eyes off her.

"Yeah, she's adorable. Now leave before I make you." Dinah threatened, giving him a glare of death.

"Aw, Pretty-Bird can't he just-"

"No."

"I know how you can talk without a mouth now, you don't have to tell me anymore!" Bella called, earning a glare from Dinah.

"How?" Vic asked finally acknowledging the little girls presence.

"Well, the sound either comes out your ears, or you're wearing a really freaky mask. I think the second one makes more sense." She added thoughtfully.

"If I have to ask you to leave one more time-"

"Why can't he stay?" Asked Bella curiously.

Dinah bit her lip, not quite sure how to tell the six year old that this man was her mothers crackpot, scumbag of an ex-boyfriend who had broken her heart. "I don't like him."

"Few do." Vic shrugged not concerned about what Dinah thought of him.

"Why? What's wrong with him?"

"Where to begin?" Muttered Ollie. "I think it all started when he was dropped." He whispered to Bella making her giggle.

"You are not helping." Dinah growled.

She turned back to Question to continue telling him off when her communicator went off. _"Canary, you are needed in the conference room immediately_." J'onn said over the communicator.

"I'm busy."

_"I do not care. Get over here now, it involves Huntress_."

Dinah sighed and turned to Ollie. "Watch her." She said cocking a thumb at Bella.

"And you, I said leave!" She turned around to glare at Q, but he was already gone. She sent a questioning glare at her husband who shrugged. "He's been doing that a lot to day."

* * *

Canary stormed down the halls towards the conference room swearing quietly under her breath.

Why the hell did that idiot of a man have to show up and act like he was worried about Helena? Why the hell didn't Bella hate him? She'd always assumed her friend had bad-mouthed him for years to her daughter.

But whatever; if Helena didn't mention him that wasn't Dinahs' problem, it was _hers._

She had never really liked Vic too much. Of course once she and Helena had become good friends after the Metabrawl she and Ollie had occasionally gone on double dates and stake-outs with them so she learned to tolerate the man for Helen's sake.

Ollie seemed to like him well enough too, so that also gave him a few points. Of course, then the asshole had dumped Helena and her poor friend had been devastated.

It killed Dinah to watch the toughest girl she knew cry. Her poor friend was furious and pained while Vic had just dumped her like trash without even offering up a good reason.

Dinah figured he must have found someone else to be a psycho with.

And now that jackass was pretending to care about her, why? Was it Bella? Was he lonely and wanting Helena back?

Dinah shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. The doors opened with a _Swoosh! _as she entered the conference room scowling. "What do you want, J'onn?"

The Martian Manhunter looked at her, an obvious _'don't use that tone with me' _expression on his face. "I called you up here to discuss Huntress' daughters' living arrangements while her mother recuperates." He explained tonelessly.

"Why?" Dinah asked in surprise. "She's going to be staying with Ollie and me."

"Well, normally I would agree with you but legally I cannot allow that." He replied.

_Now_ Dinah was confused. "What! Why the hell not, she's our niece!" She cried. "Helena's my best friend, if she got hurt then obviously she would ask me to-"

"But she _didn't_." J'onn continued. "She has it on her file that she would like _Question _to take care of her daughter if something happens to her. Legally, I am required to have the child stay with him."

_"What?" _Shrieked Dinah. "What the hell? You're going to ship a little girl off to go live with some paranoid freak she's never met because of some _writing_! I don't believe that, call Helena and check." She demanded crossing her arms.

"I am sorry but I cannot." He frowned not sounding the least bit sorry. "She is still asleep from the anesthetics she was given earlier. She will not awaken for quite a few hours."

Dinah gaped at him. "You're seriously going to let him take her, aren't you?" She said in disbelief. "I can't believe-I know! He's a computer freak, right? I bet he hacked the files so it _said_ Helen wanted that! That bastard!"

"The files are locked away and handwritten, I do not think that would be possible." J'onn countered calmly. "And yes, I do not think a few days with Question will harm the girls sanity too much considering who her mother is."

Dinah fought back a scream of annoyance. After Helena was better she was going to hurt her all over again.

* * *

Question sat down at his computer within seconds of entering the room.

He had wasted no time running towards his room the second Dinah was distracted. He wanted to know; who was the slimy jackass who'd gotten his Helena pregnant? Was she was married to him? Was he good enough for her?

He fought back a sigh. Even if this man was the wealthiest, nicest man on Earth who was completely against the Illuminati he still wouldn't like him.

He felt like he couldn't win.

If she was with him then he felt guilty because Helena was the most amazing person he'd ever met and he was just...him. He wasn't good enough for her. But, if she was with someone else then he was jealous and hurt because he didn't ever want another man to touch her and call her his.

He was in between a rock and a hard place.

Sighing, he began to type; mentally kicking himself for not checking up on her like he should have. He shook his head; could've, would've, should've... those words had no meaning, the bottom line was he _didn't_.

He wondered briefly who the little girl, Bella, had taken after; her mother or her father, whoever that was. Maybe Helen adopted her, maybe she was really her niece? Maybe she had gotten artificially inseminated or left the father? Maybe the child was a result of a one-night stand?

All these questions flowed through his mind as he typed away furiously while attempting to look up the digital copy of Helens' file. He quickly read through it_. Okay, so she isn't married_. He thought some-what relieved.

But who was her daughters' father?

Hands trembling, he clicked the link to Helena's' file, scared of what he might find. Semi-reluctantly, Vic clicked the link open and scrolled down to where the information was located.

He felt his jaw drop when he read who the father was.

* * *

**A/N Know what I just realized; I'm really mean with cliff-hangers. I mean I update every two or three days but yeesh, thanks for putting up with all of them.**

**A/N Read and Review, feel free to guess who the Daddy is.**


	3. Mr Fedoraguy Is Way Scarrier

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. Makes a girl sad.**

**A/N Whoa, TONS of reviews last chapter! Thank you guys so much! And now for the dramatic revealing of the father; dun, dun, dun!**

* * *

Vic felt as though he was going to collapse at any second.

How could Helen not tell him? He knew that she was angry at him, but why?

He still couldn't grasp it, but there it was in plain ink. Q was still kicking himself for not checking up on her.

_Name:__ Isabella Rosa Bertinelli-Szasz_

_General Information__: Six. Female. Born August 27, 2009, Wayne Foundation Hospital, Gotham, New York USA. Six pounds, three ounces. Non-Meta_

_Relations To League__: Child of member/members. Huntress/Question AKA Helena Bertinelli/Vic Sage. Only child. _

No, no, no! He couldn't have had a love child with Helena; Ollie was the one with the loose sperm, not him! She didn't even look like him; she had tan skin, black hair, and-.

He fought back a groan.

Blue eyes. His blue eyes. He was the father whether he liked it or not. But still why wouldn't Helena tell him, it wasn't like she was the type of person to carry a grudge for seven years.

Then he remembered why they even got together in the first place, she had held a grudge for _twenty-two_ years. She could very easily hold another one for seven.

He leaned back in his chair. He was a father; he had a little girl he'd hadn't met until half an hour ago. Vic sighed, no wonder Dinah hated him; he had left her best friend alone and pregnant with no one to turn to.

Q felt like a jackass. He had left Helena, the only woman he would ever really love, pregnant with nowhere to go. He had never felt so guilty. All he had wanted to do was stop holding her back, but what he had done was ruin her life.

His Helena, who he had sworn to himself more times than he could count that he would protect at all costs, had her life ruined by _him_.

And then there was the child, would she even like him? Would Helena have spent years telling her what an asshole he was therefore making his own daughter hate him?

He didn't know what he was doing anymore. But one thing he was sure of; he had missed so much, too much, of his daughters' life.

He wasn't missing another second.

* * *

"When is Aunt Dinah coming back?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know now?"

"No. As a matter in fact I don't."

". . . What about now?"

Ollie opened his mouth to inform her that he hadn't developed an ability to see the future in the past ten seconds she had asked him when Bella started talking again.

"Hey, when we get to your house can I sleep in the big guest room instead of the little one? I like it better because its got a TV and gets a zillion channels but the good ones like Nick and Disney and Cartoon-network, none of that Noggin stuff. I really like Disney, especially _Aladdin _and _The Little Mermaid _and _Finding Nemo _and_ Cinderella _and-"

She was cut off by Ollie covering her mouth with one hand. "Whoa there Miss Mouth, no need to make me loose my hearing, okay?"

"Ngh mft sngs owy!" Came her muffled reply.

"I'm gonna take that as 'yes my dearest Uncle who I love and admire so because you're the most handsome, richest and most awesomest man ever to walk the Earth'."

He took his hand off her mouth. "I don't think awesomest is a word." She muttered.

"I am going to _kill _them!" Dinah growled from behind them.

"Who, Pretty-Bird?" Ollie asked in alarm.

"Helen and Vic, they're both being sent to the morgue!"

"Why do you want to kill Mama?" Bella whimpered sounding hurt. "She's already hurt."

"Oh no sweetie, I didn't mean it like that." Dinah soothed. "Your Mother just did a really stupid thing and I want to yell at her."

"Oh." Bella blinked. People sure were mad at Mama a lot. "What'd she do?"

"She thought it would be a great idea to ship you off to stay with a crackpot." Explained Dinah.

"Who?" The little girl asked in surprise. That didn't sound like something Mama would do. . .

"The idiot you were talking to earlier."

"Mr. Fedora-guy?"

"Yeah, him." Grumbled Dinah.

"Oh. What's he like?"

"Ask your Mother." Dinah muttered under her breath.

"Huh?"

"She said that he's a kook, but not a bad way." Ollie lied.

"There's such thing as a good kook?"

Ollie shrugged. "Yeah, he just takes some getting used to. You're a pretty cute kid, you'll win him over."

"She'd better." Muttered Dinah. If he hurt her niece after all the shit he'd put Helena through she would kill him.

And she would do it in a slow, painful way.

* * *

Question stumbled out of his room in a daze.

He didn't even hear Stargirl yell at him when he accidentally bumped into her, his thoughts a tornado whirling out of control in his mind.

He didn't quite know how to feel. A part of him wanted to be mad at Helena, but he knew deep down that she had every right to keep this from him. Guilt like he had never known was pulsing through his veins, his inner demons whispering in his ear.

He wasn't sure how he managed to end up near Arrows' room, he had no memory of J'onn calling him or walking there.

When he arrived he felt his breath catch at the sight of his daughter who was currently chewing her poor Aunt and Uncles' ears off talking about God knows what.

He tried to say something, but nothing came out. Ollie noticed him standing there staring at Bella, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets. Dinah noticed him looking and shot Vic a glare of death.

"I don't know why Helena decided it was a good idea to leave her only child alone with you for a few days." She growled. "But if you put her through half the shit you put Helena through-"

"Won't." He finally managed to get out. The six year old was smiling at him with a curious look on her face as though she was trying to figure him out.

He realized Dinah was talking. "-But not the Kraft kind. She's gonna try to con you into letting her stay up but don't let her like Ollie does. You got all that?"

He blinked behind the mask. "Yes." He lied. He was the worlds second greatest detective, he could figure out how to take care of a child; especially his and Helena's' child.

Dinah looked at him skeptically. "Bella, get over here."

The little girl wandered towards them. "Yeah?"

"This," Dinah said gesturing towards Vic. "is the insane whack-job your mother thought for some reason you should stay with."

"So I don't get to sleep over at your house?" The little girl whined.

"Nope, we're sick of your chatter-box butt and now you're getting kicked out." Ollie grinned.

Bella glared at him, that same annoyed glare that Vic had seen Helena give him so many times. He felt like he was going to cry.

"Um, where am I supposed to stay? Do I get to stay at my house alone? That would be so cool! It would be like _Home Alone _except it's not Christmas and there's no bad guys and I'm a girl and my names not Kevin and-" Again she was interrupted by Ollie covering her mouth.

"Sorry, she hasn't realized that you're not supposed to say every thought that pops into your head." Ollie said apologetically to Vic. He turned back to Bella. "You're living with him." He explained, cocking his head at Question.

His daughter looked at him in surprise. "You mean Mr. Fedora-guy?"

"Yeah, Mr. Fedora-guy." Snickered Ollie. "Personally I think that's a way more intimidating name than 'The Question'."

The blue-eyed girl looked at him oddly. "Why would you call yourself 'The Question'? I've been talking for a really long time and you haven't really asked me anything like my name or my age or my favorite color or which princess is my favorite or chicken or fish or-"

"He probably already knows." Sighed Ollie. "Meet our resident data-guy, he's like a walking Google. Actually, more like Wikileaks."

"... I don't know how to respond to that." She finally admitted.

Ollie shrugged. "Neither do we."

"Alright, then!" She declared, her happy-go-lucky nature returning. "Where do you live?"

The question seemed to jolt Vic out of his trance. "Uh, Hub city."

"The Hub? Cool! I've always wanted to go there but Mama said it was to dangerous and I'm like 'we live in Gotham!'. But she still said no so I was sad but then I got happy again. Did you know 'The Hub' is a TV channel? I think that's so weird!"

He blinked behind his mask. "Yes...I suppose so."

She looked at him expectantly. ". . .Well?"

"Well what?"

"Can we leave now?"

"Oh! Um, can we?" He shot a hidden pleading look at Dinah who sighed and gestured for them to leave. She still looked super mad.

"Cool! Can we stop at McDonald's first or Wendy's or Chick-fil-a or Taco Bell or-Oof!" Vic bending down to give her a fierce, slightly awkward hug cut her off.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled blinking back tears, not quite sure what he was apologizing for.

"S'okay man! But I can't *gasp* breath!" She choked out. He instantly let go as she fell back and took a dramatic breath. She shot him a some-what confused look as if to say _Yeesh, if I talk I get strangled. Wonder what would happen if I laughed?_. "'Kay, let's go!"

"Um, alright." He muttered as she bolted down the hall and to the teleporter pads.

"Ngh! Wait!" He called chasing after her.

"Wonder how he's gonna be living with a kid?" Ollie asked aloud.

"Hmph. I just hope the jackass doesn't scare her too much." Dinah growled.

"Hey Dinah, I think he knows."

"Oliver dearest?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Yes dear."

* * *

**A/N Sorry if anyone wanted the kid to be someone elses'. I love Q too much to have Helena get knocked up by some other guy.**

**A/N Read and Review and I'll love you forever! In a totally non-creepy way, he-he. . .**


	4. Bed Time Isn't Fun Time

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

**A/N Again, SO many reviews, love you guys! *Mwah!***

* * *

"-Else bugs me? My name, I mean it's really pretty but _Twilight_ completely ruined it! I mean can't being named Bella mean something other than that person must love pale guys who sparkle? Know who's a cool Bella though; that crazy lady with the weird hair from _Harry Potter_. But Bella wasn't her full name it was something weird, it was, um, BELLATRIX! That's it Bellatrix!" She exclaimed.

"You always talk this much?" Q asked half-heartily.

The little girl nodded energetically. "Yep! Mama says she has no clue where that gene came from, though! She says that she doesn't talk half as much as me even when she's excited and that Daddy wasn't to much of a talker either. I've never met my Daddy though so I don't know." She shrugged.

Vic gulped quietly at the sudden feeling of guilt that shot through him. "How is your, uh, mother, exactly?" He said hoping he didn't sound to caring.

"Mama? Well she's kind of in the hospital which is why I'm staying with you. . ." She trailed off uncertainly.

"No, I meant how is she? Fine, sad, happy, single?" The last word was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Oh! I think she's happy, well as happy as Mama ever is. She's really nice and funny and lets me play with her bow if I'm careful and I getta watch TV kinda late so she's cool. Um, she doesn't have a boyfriend, I think. She goes on dates and stuff but I don't like any of the guys she meets and they usually only see her once."

He ignored the small burst of joy at the thought of Helena being single. "Hurm. Uh, what do you enjoy doing?"

"I like coloring and drawing and playing princess and watching TV and playing with my dolls and my stuffed animals and coloring and talking and eating and sleeping and sparring and going on the computer and coloring and reading and opening presents and listening to music." She said happily as she counted off each item with her fingers.

Flash watched them be teleported down to Earth as the little girl continued talking wondering if she could give him a run for his money in the talking department.

He grinned as he saw Question fidget uncomfortably as the kid kept talking.

He wondered who'd be crazy enough to trust their kid with him.

* * *

Helena opened her eyes sleepily and looked around the room.

Where the hell was she? Oh, yeah, fighting, pain, darkness, all of those memories meant one thing; she was in the hospital.

"Good, you're awake. Now I can kill you and not feel bad about doing it while you sleep!" Dinah growled.

"Jeez, what's got you're tights in a bunch." Helena muttered sitting up.

"You put _Vic _down as Bella's' guardian in case of an emergency!"

"Oh, yeah, about that. . ." She trailed off. "Wait a minute, is Bella okay?" She asked suddenly worried.

"Yeah she's fine." Dinah said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Now back to the problem. Why the hell would you want her to stay with that crackpot instead of Ollie and me?"

"'Ollie and I'." Helena corrected buying time to answer the question.

Dinah glared at her. "Very funny Ms. Teacher. Now what the hell would make you do that?"

Helena fidgeted uncomfortably. "Jeez, what are you, my mother?"

Dinah frowned at the younger woman. "No, and I think you need to act like a better one."

Helena sat up straight. You could say a lot to her, but telling her she was a bad mom was crossing the line. "Shut up Dinah, just shut the hell up. You can act all high and mighty but you don't know shit about being a mother so shove it."

Dinah winced slightly. "Come on Helena, you left her alone with _Vic_."

"Who is her _Father_. Mine taught me a lot and the one lesson he always stretched was that family is important. I don't speak to Q anymore but he's still Bella's' father. Girls need their Daddy's."

"I just meant that you didn't exactly give him a lot of warning. I don't think he was expecting to wake up and discover he has a daughter."

Helena looked away. "I didn't know how to tell him. He never exactly struck me as the father type."

"What the hell did you see in him anyways?" Dinah sighed shaking her head.

Helena bit her lip, when she and Vic were going out it felt...right, like that was the way it should be. He wasn't like any other guy she'd ever dated, and that was a good thing. He was sweet, tried so hard to make her happy, made her feel so good, made love to her like their lives depended on it, she really thought she'd met a guy she could love forever.

Then he dumped her while she was pregnant.

Though, in his defense he didn't know, otherwise he'd of never done it. "I don't know, I was young and stupid I guess."

"You guess?"

"You're right, I was never stupid and I'm still young. Hey, when do I get to leave?"

"Two days."

Helen tried to figure out how she felt. That meant Vic had Bella for two more days.

And that might be all he'd ever get.

* * *

"Hey, if someone cuts you off on the road do you just yell at them 'Go to here!'?"

They had just arrived in his apartment in Hub City. Not even two seconds after appearing Bella had started talking up a storm.

"No, no, you still tell them to go to Hell." He explained tiredly.

"Huh, really? I mean I always wondered 'cause it's nicknamed Helltown, ya' know?"

He sighed. "Yes, I get asked that a lot."

"Huh." She looked at him expectantly. "When are you going to take your mask off?"

"How do you know it's a mask?"

"Well, people need to breath. . .and you need a mouth or nose to do that. People need to eat, too, and you need to have a mouth or you starve." She said thoughtfully.

He felt a slight feeling of pride pulse through him, his little girl was smart. "Good, people tend to assume it isn't a mask."

"Maybe 'cause they're scared?"

"Possibly." He shrugged reaching into his pocket to get out the can of aerosol. He brought it up to his face and pressed the button. The little girl looked at him curiously as his hair turned to red and his mask was peeled away.

She blinked before beginning to giggle.

"What?" He asked wondering what was so funny.

"Y-You're a Ginger!" She giggled with delight. "You know, like Daphne from Scooby-Doo."

"Scooby-Doo was produced by Hannah Barbara to brainwash children into believing that the occult was something to be laughed at thus making them atheists so that the Catholic church looses members and more people stay at home watching football and hiking up their electrical bill so the Illuminati can make a bigger profit." He said automatically.

Her mouth formed an 'O'. "Hey, we have the same eye-color!" She realized with a grin. "That's so cool, maybe were related! Or maybe like were both Scottish or Irish or something."

"Yes, maybe." He murmured. "It's 10:30, what time does your mother put you to bed?"

"Ummm, Mama says I can stay up until 9."

"Oh, well, good night." He said awkwardly.

"Dude!" She exclaimed. "I'm in like, my clothes! And I need somewhere to sleep! And I'm hungry and thirsty and I need use the bathroom and brush my teeth and say my prayers and-"

"Alright." He sighed.

**40 minutes later:**

"-And then Mattie said that she had the best Barbie's 'cause her Daddy can get 'em made special because he's rich so I said 'all of the starving kids in the world and you're spending money on _dolls?_' Then she stuck her tongue at me and I said that she was spoiled and she said it's not her fault her Daddy's Bruce Wayne or that he's so rich. I don't like Mattie, she's mean and 'noxious." She finished taking a sip of her water.

"Is that all?" He asked tiredly.

"Mm hm." She said happily as she gave him the empty glass of water. She was laying on his living room couch wearing an old sports jersey, chatting away even though she was supposed to be asleep.

"Good night." He tried again turning to walk out of the room.

"Wait! You never told me a story!" She exclaimed sounding scandalized.

"What?"

"You have to tell me a story, duh!" She explained rolling her eyes.

"A story?" He repeated. "What about?"

"OOH! Mama tells me a lot. She tells me a lot of old stories about our _famiglia _about when they lived in _Italia _and her parents and my favorite which is about the crazy lovers."

"Crazy lovers?"

"Yeah, I don't tell it very well, but it's basically about these two people who everyone says are nuts. The lady wanted to do something really bad to an evil, evil guy who hurt her family really badly and made her sad, right? So she tried to kill him, but this really dumb alien stopped her and threw her out of this club. She was soooo mad and while she was there she met this reeeaaally strange dude who said he'd help her out. So she agreed and then they had this fight with these two other people who tried to stop them and they got their butts whooped, well actually the lady didn't. So they tracked down the bad guy and the lady could have killed him, right? But the strange guy asked if that was what she really wanted and she realized she didn't."

She paused to take a breath before continuing. "Then she asked the man why he'd helped her and you know what he said?"

_Yes. _"No."

"He said it was 'cause he liked her and then the lady thought he was sooooooo sweet so she grabbed him and kissed him right through this weird mask and dragged him away because she liked him too. And they loved each other for a very long time no matter what people thought."

Vic was in shock; Helena had told their daughter the story of how they met. Why? He remembered that night like it was yesterday, how surprised he'd been at himself when he'd admitted his feelings and the way he'd turned away utterly embarrassed. The way she kissed him right through his mask and he thought he was dreaming until Canary said 'Eew.' How they'd gone back to a hotel and she hopped up on a dresser spreading her legs apart, inviting him inside her and whispering for him to prove his attraction.

He did, and it had been phenomenal, more pleasurable than he thought possible.

"Well, now I'm tired so G'night." Bella sighed as she pulled the blanket over her head.

"Night." He said weakly as he stumbled into his bedroom. He still loved Helena more than anything.

He was beginning to wonder if he should tell her that.

* * *

"Mr. Vic?"

Nothing, just slight snoring.

"Mr. Viiiiiic?" Nada.

"Mr. Vic!" She whispered loudly.

"Ngh!" He woke up with a jolt going from dead to the world to wide-awake in under two seconds.

She let out a small scream of surprise jumping back so high he thought she was going to hit the ceiling.

He fought back a groan. Helena used to tell him that his ability to go from unconscious to full of adrenaline in a moment's time was going to give her a heart attack. He missed hearing her talk to him. "Bella, what is it?"

She looked at him suspiciously before relaxing. "I need my babies." She whimpered.

"You what?"

"Need my babies, my two stuffed animals. I want Stella!" She whined.

He sighed and sat up. "Where did you last see Stella?"

"At the park, last summer." She explained.

He fought back a string of curses. "What about the other one?"

"Mr. Stitchy?"

"Yes, him."

"He's at home!" She complained.

This time a few curses slipped out quietly. "Well, I suppose you will have to sleep without him." He said in a perfectly reasonable tone.

"But I need him!" She whaled.

"No, you've deluded yourself into believing you need them because of Corporate America." He explained tiredly.

For a second she stopped and stared at him, trying to comprehend what he'd said. "But I _need _him!" She cried resuming her previous tactic. "I'm scared and in a strange place in a bad city with a stranger." She whimpered. "I can't sleep without him."

With a sigh he got out of bed and picked up the upset little girl and carried her into the living room. He picked up his com-link. "Mr. Terrific?"

"Yes, Question. What is it?"

"I need to be teleported."

"This late? Is it an emergency?"

He looked at his daughter who was shivering with tears falling out of her eyes, she looked like she was going to throw a hysterical fit in a few seconds. "Yes, it is."

"Alright, where too?"

"Huntress' apartment."

"Ah." Now Terrific got it, those two had dated a few years back and probably wanted one more fling. "Alright."

**Helena's' apartment:**

"Did you find it?" He shouted staring at her baby pictures displayed on the wall. He had missed out on so much.

"Yep!" She called running into the room carrying a blue dog-like thing with six arms.

"What is that?" He asked.

"Mr. Stitchy." She said proudly, her earlier terror forgotten. "You know, from _Lilo and Stitch_."

"Ah." He said not having a clue what she'd meant. He'd investigate this 'Stitch' later.

"Thank you!" She cried giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"You're uh, welcome." He said awkwardly not knowing how to deal with the feeling of warmth he got watching her play with her toy.

She smiled at him adoringly. "Can we go now?"

"Are you going to sleep?"

"Sure, once I go to the bathroom and sleep and brush my teeth and say my prayers and. . ."

He watched her list all the things she needed to do before she could go to sleep.

_Damn, Helen's going to kill me for letting her stay up the entire night._

* * *

**A/N Little bit of Daddy-Daughter fluff:)**

**A/N Read and Review**


	5. How Dare He!

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

**A/N Yay, over fifty reviews! You guys are awesome!**

* * *

Question woke up to a blaring TV, a messy kitchen, and a cheerful six year old eating on his couch.

"Hi ya'!" She smiled through a mouthful of cereal. "Hey, why do you get this type of cereal? Lucky Charms is so much yummier 'cept they put all this cereal in when it should just be marshmallows and milk. Cocoa Puffs are really good too except that it makes the milk get all weird and icky."

"What are you eating?"

"Cereal. It's Honey Combs." She explained.

He looked over at his kitchen that currently looked like a tornado had ripped through his cabinets. "What did you do to my kitchen?"

"Oh, it took me a while to find the cereal and a bowl so I had to look through everything and get a chair to stand on because I'm small and then I couldn't find a spoon for a while." She replied.

He looked at the mountain of crap on his counter. "Why did you take all my food out?"

"Because I couldn't find the cereal." She explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why didn't you just wake me up?"

"Oh, you're scary when you wake up." She said with a frown. "You almost gave me a heart-attack."

He rubbed his temples. "Then why didn't you put it away?"

"I didn't know where it all went." She shrugged.

He fought back the urge to explain that if she was the one who'd taken it all out in the first place then she should've known where to put it back. "What are you watching?" He asked, deciding to change the subject as he began to clean up his small kitchen.

"_Phineas and Ferb_." She replied not taking her eyes of the screen.

He looked over and saw two animated children with bizarre heads and hair singing and dancing about a band in a library. "What?"

"You know, _Phineas and Ferb_, like Perry the Platypus and, my favorite, Isabella 'cause she has my name, and Candace and all them. They build something new every day and sing and dance and stuff. It's like Glee for little kids." She explained.

"Hurm. Why don't you watch something educational?" He suggested.

She looked at him like he had snakes coming out of his eyes. "Because it's boring, duh!" She exclaimed rolling her eyes. "And this is Disney and Disney rocks."

"Actually, Disney is a corporation dedicated to the brainwashing of the Worlds' populace by using annoyingly catchy songs to implant thoughts that make viewers do their dirty work yet feel as though nothing as happened. It started with Mickey Mouse being designed so that more Americans joined the Navy." He explained simply.

"So Disney's...bad?" She asked confused. How could Disney be bad, all the movies had happy endings and awesome songs to sing in the car!

"Yes, though I believe 'bad' is an understatement."

She looked at him as if she was trying to figure out if he was messing with her or not. "Hey, wanna see a trick I learned?" She asked out of nowhere.

"What?"

"Do you want to see a trick I learned?" She repeated.

"Uh, yes, go ahead."

She smiled and hopped off his couch. Grinning, she stood up straight and stretched her arms out to the sky. With a small giggle she bent over backwards and did two back flips before ending into a somersault and accidentally knocking into the wall. "Ouch!" She exclaimed rubbing her head.

Vic quickly went over to her. "Are you alright?" He asked pulling her up.

"Mm-Hm, just got an ouchie." She explained rubbing her hand. "You didn't make it better." She accused.

"What?"

"My ouchie, you need to make it better." She pouted.

"Do you want a bandage, it isn't bleeding." He pointed out wondering how he was supposed to make it stop hurting.

"No silly, you have to kiss it to make it better like Mama and Uncle Ollie and Aunt Dinah and them do." She sulked, rubbing her hand.

"That doesn't make sense. How could a kiss make physical pain stop when all it probably does is momentarily warm the area?" He wondered out loud.

"It just does." She huffed. "Now kiss it."

With a sigh he quickly gave his daughters hand a light peck. "See!" She exclaimed brightly jumping down. "All better!"

He blinked twice; unable to quite understand how that had worked. He figured the Illuminati were involved.

"Hey," Bella said suddenly staring intently at the wall. "What's that?" She asked pointing towards it.

He looked over at it. "That is The Conspiracy board."

"What's The Conspiracy?"

"Since the beginning of time there has been a group working on the sidelines, carefully orchestrating the events of humanity, but the common man prefers to think they don't exist." He explained. "They go by the name of The Illuminati."

"Huh, I guess I'm safe then since I'm a girl." She declared.

"No, 'common man' is an expression. You could be under their control, too."

She looked at him skeptically and read over the headlines. "Actors elected into public office, girl scouts starting those crop circle things, Disney being mind control for the Government. . ."

She looked at the board, than back at Vic. "Um. . .where did you hear about this?"

"Found out for myself."

"Oh." For a few minutes an unsettling silence occurred, then; "Well, I kinda believe the bullet one."

"The magic bullet? The one that has to do with Kennedy's assassination?"

"Yeah, I mean how could one bullet make seven holes in two people? And if you see how they went in, it's just a bit to ...coincidental."

"Not a coincidence, it's all part of The Conspiracy."

"And Disney and Scooby-Doo are all apart of it?" She asked in bewilderment.

"I believe so."

"Hmm..." She murmured beginning to wonder who Mama had left her with.

"Uh, I need to do some work." He explained.

"League work or work work?"

"League. Oliver said he'd watch you for a little while, is that okay?"

"Mm Hm." She smiled.

* * *

"Hey kiddo, how ya' been?"

"Fine. Hey did you know that Disney was an evil corporation bent on controlling unsuspecting Americans to do the Governments dirty work?" Bella asked.

Ollie turned to Vic. "Not even two days with you and she's already been corrupted. You've turned her from a sweet six-year-old to a paranoid, government-hating freak." He sighed shaking his head.

"Hurm." Was the only reply Q offered as he was teleported onto the Metro-Tower.

Ollie turned back to Bella. "So what's it like staying with him?"

"Mr. Vic? Well, he's really nice and helped me get Mr. Stitchy so he's not mean or anything. I don't think he's ever taken care of kids before though since he doesn't seem to really know what he's doing. Oh, he taught me a lot though, like that Disney is evil and Scooby-Doo is gonna end up helping the Illuminati take over the world. He's really nice but kinda creepy, like Santa Claus." She finished.

"Santa, eh?" Oliver chuckled.

"Mm-Hm." She nodded. "How's Mama and Aunt Dinah?"

"Well, your Aunt is currently scaring your poor old Uncle since she's a little mad that your Mother wanted you to stay with Question instead of her."

"Sounds about right." Bella said knowingly. Aunt Dinah sure could be mean to Uncle Ollie when she was mad. "What about Mama?"

"Eh, she's tough. She'll be fine munchkin." He assured her.

"Oh, I thought she was gonna be. I mean, duh, she's Mama; nothing can hurt her. But I wasn't sure 'cause everyone was acting really worried and I was just wondering."

He looked at her pink T-shirt. "Miss Chatterbox, eh, who got that for you?"

"Mama, she said it fit me perfectly but I don't know why." The little girl mused.

"It's a mystery." Ollie agreed. "Now if you don't mind, there's a little game going on between my city and Bruce's' and we have a little bet going on." Ollie smirked.

"So you're gonna spend all of your time with me watching the game?" She gasped sounding hurt.

". . .That was the plan." Ollie admitted sheepishly.

Bella crossed her arms and glared at him. "Does Aunt Dinah know?"

"No, and what your Aunt doesn't know won't hurt her." Ollie explained.

"Okay, just pleeeeeaaaaase don't fall asleep while the game's on." She begged.

"Alright, kiddo. Jeez, you think I'm that lame?"

Ten minutes later, Ollie was passed out.

* * *

"Ollllliiiiieeeee?" She tried.

"Uncle Ollie?" Nothing, she hoped he was still breathing.

"Uncle Oliver!"

"Mmmm, Dinah, five more minutes." He murmured, turning over on the couch.

"You're fired as my baby sitter." She muttered walking out of the living room. If Uncle Ollie was asleep than that meant she had to entertain herself.

_What to do, what to do, what to do? _She thought mentally reviewing all of the possibilities. She couldn't have a tea party since all her stuffed animals were home, she couldn't play with her dolls because they were at home to, and she couldn't watch TV because everything on was B-O-R-I-N-G boring.

What was a munchkin to do?

Slowly, an idea began to form in her head. She didn't really know the man she was staying with, and this _was _his house. A good place to learn about someone was where they lived, right?

She wandered through the small apartment searching for...well, she hadn't really thought of what she was looking for yet. She ventured down the hall and to the mans' bedroom.

It was a pretty boring room, and fairly messy. There were clothes thrown haphazardly around the room, a bed in the middle, and a dresser. Other than that the room was pretty empty. Her eyes latched onto a closet near the back and she walked towards it quietly, not wanting to wake up her Uncle.

She opened the door and peered inside. If she was expecting axes and hockey masks she was severally disappointed. She shoved away some of the trench coats and other clothes, finding the stupid thing to be empty. She was about to decide that she should leave the investigating stuff to Batman when suddenly she spotted a small box towards the back.

She bent down on her knees and crawled towards it. Scrunching her nose, she blew away the dust and opened the lid.

Her eyebrows went up in surprise. _Now _she got what this was, it was a memoir box, something Mama told her was a good thing to shove important stuff without a real purpose into. Mama had one in her closet, too.

It was pretty empty with only a few small things inside it. The first thing was a purple arrow that reminded her of her mothers. She picked it up and twirled it in her hand, it definitely looked like Mamas'. She turned her attention back to the box and pulled out a picture of her Mother.

She was sitting on a bed wearing dark lipstick with her hair down in what had to be the smallest nightgown Bella had ever seen and definitely the tightest. It was solid black and lacy with a very low cut in the front and matching fishnets under it with five inch heels. Her mother was looking at the camera, a small grin on her pursed-out lips with her eyes half closed.

She turned the photo over and read the back.

_Dear Vic,_

_Happy V-Day babydoll. Thought this would get you in the mood for tonight._

_Love, _

_Helena_

_P.S It's called V-Day for a reason._

Bella read the back curiously, wasn't V-day Valentines day? She wondered why Mama would wear something like that in February; it couldn't be very warm. Shrugging she put it down and picked up another photo.

Again, Mama was in it smiling, but someone else was too. It was Mr. Vic looking slightly uncomfortable. Mama was laughing and leaning close to him while he tried to look not as uptight as he felt with his arm around her. She didn't like how he was looking at Mama, like she was the only person in the world.

Then it hit her like a ton of rocks. _That's _why Mr. Vic didn't mind her staying here, he used to be Mamas' boyfriend! That meanie probably wanted to get back together with her. Which meant he was using her.

Bella frowned, an odd sense of anger pulsing through her.

She bet that they'd probably hugged and held hands and even _kissed_! She fought back the urge to hit something, no one got to do that to Mama except Daddy, whoever that was.

She'd never met him, but she still knew he must have been important to Mama. This meant that Mr. Vic was using her to get on Mamas' good side. That, that...jerk! How dare he!

No one used Isabella Rosa Bertinelli-Szazs and got away with it.

Frowning, she stood up. She wasn't a mean or bratty kid by nature, but she'd seen Martha Wayne throw tantrums on more than one occasion. She could do the whole brat-thing.

And she was going to be the most obnoxious, evil, bratty, little pain-in-the-neck he'd ever met.

* * *

**A/N Vic is so in trouble.**

**A/N Read and Review.**


	6. Red

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

**JezCul666- Yep, Vic's basically screwed.**

**Knight Watcher- Oh yeah, and there's no hell like hell from, a six-year-old.**

**sorahart- Vic is dead meat:)**

**Master Bleach- Yep, he's done for:)**

**KaliAnn- Well, she's little and little kids don't really think like that. **

**Guest- Ollie is a terrible sitter for kids.**

**Cooper 101- Thanks, on it!**

**JLluvr- Bratty Bella is going to be hell for Vic:)**

* * *

Ollie opened up his eyes and tiredly stared at the room he was in.

Where the hell was he? _Oooooh, yeah. _He thought beginning to remember. _I'm watching Bella. Crap! I'm watching Bella; where'd she go? _He panicked bolting up. "BELLA!"

"Yeah, yeah; keep your pants on." The little girl muttered bitterly while walking in the room.

"Jeez, what's got you in such a grumpy mood?" Ollie asked in surprise.

The normally happy child looked positively upset. "Just learned some bad news."

"Being. . ?"

She waited a second before answering. "Did Mr. Vic date my Mama?"

Ollie gaped at her. How the hell did she know that? He mentally sighed, this _was _Questions' daughter after all. ". . .Yes." He admitted wondering how much she knew.

"And you didn't tell me this; why?" She exclaimed.

"Well, I-"

"Do you have any idea what this means?"

"... Do you?" He asked carefully.

"Yeah! I'm being used so he can date her again!"

Ollie opened his mouth to say something when a blue beam appeared in the room. Question stood in the center of his living room. "What?"

Oliver was still trying to think of a good response when he was teleported away.

* * *

"Ollie, why are you making that face?" Dinah asked.

"Uhhhhh. . ."

Dinah sighed. "I always go for the brainy ones. How's Bella holding up with the face-less wonder?"

"Um, I have no idea." Ollie muttered finally thinking of something to say. "She knows Vic used to date Helena, but I don't think she knows that he's her father."

Dinah gaped out him. "How the hell did she find that out?"

"Well, I _may _have taken a light little nap while I was watching her-"

"You fell asleep?" Dinah growled.

"Just for a little while." Ollie protested.

"That still doesn't answer my question, how'd she find out?"

"I don't know! She's Vic's' kid, remember? Maybe she went through his trash!"

"Oliver." Dinah said in a I-won't-kill-you-until-you-give-me-evidence-but-then-you're-dead voice. "How did she find out?"

"I don't know! She just came out and looked all mad and said Vic was using her to get back with her mom and she was really mad."

"So, what?" Dinah asked. "You just left her there! Oh my God, that poor child. . . And you for leaving her, IDIOT!" She scolded punching his arm. "I should kill you right now!"

"Please don't Pretty-Bird." Ollie begged. "Where else are you gonna find a guy like me?"

"Oh, you're one of a kind all right." She sighed with a glare.

"Thank you." Ollie smiled, missing the sarcasm in her voice.

"Vic is so screwed." Dinah muttered.

"Why, because Bella's gonna be mad at him?"

"No. Because now I think he _is _using her and I want to kill him in a slow, painful way." She muttered. "And I swear if this happened sooner I'd have gone down there, picked her up, and taken her away from that psycho-path!"

"Aw, Di, he was probably just trying to get to know her! I mean Helena didn't exactly try-"

"Ollie, do you enjoy the ability to feel your body from the waist down?" She asked in an eerily calm voice.

"Well, yeah. I've got some pretty important stuff down there. . ." Ollie answered in surprise.

"Then unless you want to loose all feeling there you're gonna want to shut up!" She finished.

"Yes dear." Arrow muttered. "Why don't you just go and get her now?"

"Oh." Dinah said simply. "Helena was released today."

* * *

Vic turned back towards his daughter. "Hello."

"Hi." She growled.

Vic blinked wondering if he'd imagined her change of tone. "Ahem." He coughed holding a bag out to her. "This is for you."

She looked at him suspiciously before taking it and peering inside. It was a movie and some _Lucky Charms _cereal. "This movie's _Lilo And Stitch_, you know Disney makes that; right?"

"Well, yes. But you seemed to be bored and your, uh, stuffed animal was in this so. . ." He trailed off suddenly unsure.

She stared at him. Great, he just had to go and buy her favorite movie he had said was evil and give it to her as a present. It was hard to be mad when you were so happy; then she remembered why she was so upset. "I don't want it." She huffed shoving it towards him.

Vic fought back a sigh; he was really terrible at this whole father-thing. Honestly, he couldn't even pick out a decent movie. Of course, it did make him a tiny bit proud that she could resist Corporate Americas' influence on the minds of children. "Oh. All right then."

"And didn't you say this cereal was like poison to Americas' youth?"

"Well, yes. But again you said you didn't like any of what I had-"

"No! I don't want it!" She shouted stomping her foot like she'd seen Martha Wayne do a thousand time. "I want _Cocoa Puffs_!" She demanded.

"Well, I-"

"NO! I want them NOW!" She screamed. This brat thing was kinda fun in a rebel sort of way; no wonder Mattie was always throwing tantrums.

"Okay!" Q exclaimed in bewilderment. What had he done to make her so upset?

"I want to go home!" She cried. "I want MAMA!"

"She's not well enough to-"

"I don't care, I want her _now_!" She ordered.

"Why?" Q asked in shock. Was he really that bad of a father? God, couldn't he do anything right?

"Look, Red." Bella snarled. "You don't want me here, and I don't want to be here. Just send me home so every things easier, 'Kay?"

_Red? _"I do want you here!" Vic tried. "But your Mother can't be here so-"

"Then I want Aunt Dinah and Ollie!" She screamed. "Anyone but _you_!"

Vic's' shoulders sagged as he admitted defeat, pain splitting through his heart. His own daughter hated him, not that he could really blame her. "Fine." He whispered, obviously hurt.

"NO, I WANT-oh." She finished realizing he had given up. No wonder Mama dumped him, he didn't really try to hard to make her stay. "Okay, then."

"Are you sure?" He tried. This could be the only time he got to be with his daughter and he didn't really want it to end.

"Yeah, and I want them NOW!" She demanded stomping her foot.

"Fine. I'll go call them."

Bella blinked, did he sound sad? Why would he sound sad; he did what Mama wanted. "Oh, alright then."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" She shouted making a bolt for the door.

"_MAMA!" _She exclaimed as she answered it.

"You're here!"

* * *

**A/N Helen's back.**

**A/N Read and Review**


	7. Sorrow

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

**Fire Lady14- Don't we all?**

**LordFrieza- Yeah, I'm being really mean to poor little Q and this chapter's going to be pretty angst-y.**

**KaliAnn- I think all little girls can be brats when the situation comes up. Poor Viccy, he's still pretty sad:(**

**valevilandra- Yeah, I'm being a big bully to Vic:( **

**ChristinaWasHere- Yeah, in a few years her room will be covered in newspapers and archery posters. TONS of explaining, though.**

**question- The reason I haven't said who's the mother of Martha is because I'm doing a love-triangle story with CW/BM/WW and didn't want to give either WW or CW the advantage. But it's either Catwoman or Wonder Woman, take your pick. I might just choose one later depending on what people ask me to do.**

**JezCul666- Yep, this chapter is gonna be between H/Q.**

**Wingzero87- He he, first time anyone's ever compared Vic to an emotional punching bag. Seems pretty fitting. . .**

**Knight Watcher- Yep, little kids aren't exactly famous for their conclusions being spot-on correct. Figured this would be one of those times:)**

**Idk- She's gonna have a lot to say;)**

**Cooper101- Thanks, doing it right now:D**

**Guest- Ollie's famous for a lot of stuff, being able to resist females at any age is so not one of them:) There's a huge line full of people (mainly women) who want to kill Ollie. Gotta feel bad for Bella/Q, and now Helena's back so. . .**

**-the-Green-Hornet- Yep, had to make old Viccy try a little bit even though he's got zero experience in that type of stuff.**

**yellowstar128- I am evil, thank you very much:)**

**plzcontinuesoon- Thanks, and of course I have to update quick since I left a cliff-hanger. I hate it when writers do that than take years to add on.**

**JLluvr- Thanks, and calm down dude, I'm updating right now:)**

* * *

You're here!" Bella cried jumping up.

Helena caught her and laughed, spinning her around. "Oh, my little baby girl!" She cooed.

"Mama, I'm not little." Pouted Bella.

"Yes you are, you're my little baby Bells." Helena smirked as her daughter giggled.

"Hello, Helena." Said Vic staring at her. God, she was beautiful. How-how did he ever let her go? Well he knew how, but still. . .

"Hey, Vic." Helena answered giving him a tired smile as they made eye contact. For a second, it was the way it always was. Nothing had changed; they were still together sharing a small acknowledgement at their daughter's behavior, lost in their own little world. It had been like that forever, animalistic attraction and understanding.

Then it was gone not even a second after it had began. "Um, sweetie, why don't you go wait in the car, okay?" Helena suggested, her voice sounding strained.

"Okay Mama!" The little girl agreed jumping down. "I just have to get Mr. Stitchy and my toothbrush and my nightgown and my socks and shoes and. . ."

"She. . . likes to talk." Helena explained as their daughter ran in and out of a room before dashing out the door. "Buckle yourself in your car-seat!" Helen called after her before turning back to Vic.

"I can tell." He agreed still staring at her.

"So. . . how are you?" She started.

"Fine. And you?"

"Can't complain."

For a few moments they stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to proceed. "So, I guess you know now." Helen finally said.

"Know what?"

"About Bella and that she's. . ."

"Mine?"

"Ours."

"Oh. Yes, I know." He assured her. Another uncomfortable silence. "Why. . . didn't you tell me?" Vic finally managed to choke out.

"I don't know, Vic. You never really seemed like the kind of person who wanted a kid and we'd just split up and things were so complicated . . ." She shook her head. "I wanted to, but as the years went by it just seemed so much. . . harder."

He nodded. "Oh, I see."

"Do you?" Helena asked walking towards him. "You seem pretty calm about this."

"No, but I've had three days to get use to the idea." He explained. "Are you mad at me?"

"Mad? I don't really know, I mean I had a while to get use to it myself. We had a lot of good times together, you and I."

"Yes, we did." He agreed looking at her. Their faces were inches apart. "Quite a lot."

They were practically kissing. The problem with his conclusions about why he couldn't be with Helen, he realized, was that the second he looked into her dark brown eyes and saw how deep they were, how pretty she was, remembered how warm she always felt, all those reasons seemed to drift away.

He wanted to kiss her so badly. They locked eyes for a moment, their faces now centimeters apart. ". . . To bad you dumped me while I was pregnant." Helena whispered.

Guilt suddenly crashed down on him. "Helena, I-"

"Do you know how hard that was?" She asked beginning to get emotional as she took a step away from him. "How hard it still is? She acts like you sometimes, a lot of the time, and even looks like you sometimes! She makes that same stupid face you used to make when you were concentrating on something. Asks all these random questions I have no idea how to answer, I'm just waiting for her to declare that were all screwed because the Illuminati are in control of the world."

"Helen, I'm-"

"You're what, Vic? Sorry?" She let out a bitter laugh. "Do you know how hard it is to love someone so much and have them be the most important person in you life then go and have them look and act like someone else who broke your heart? No, you don't!"

"I know, and I'm sorry-"

"You're sorry? Damn it Vic, how the hell could you do that? Hurt me like that? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't good enough." He whispered. "And I never would be. Helena, I heard them all talking right after we started dating. They always talked about us, but us together was. . .terrible. It killed me. I loved you so much, I couldn't hurt you anymore."

"Did it ever occur to you I didn't give a shit!" She exploded. "They always talked about me, I don't even care what they say anymore! I didn't think you did either!"

"I didn't care what they said about me, just what they said about you!" He cried.

"I didn't care! We were together you idiot! I was happy, you were happy, _we_ were happy,_ together_! You always said you never gave a shit what everyone else said and I respected that! But damn it, if that's your excuse-"

"Not an excuse and it was more complicated-"

"It's always so complicated, isn't it?" She sniffed. "Don't you hate me?"

"Why the hell would I hate you?"

"Aren't you angry? Hurt? Want to punch a wall or cry your eyes out?"

"No, why would I be?"

"I didn't tell you you had a daughter for seven fucking years!" She screamed. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Yes, of course it does! But I deserved it-"

"Get angry! Be mad!" She shrieked. Why wasn't he upset, why couldn't he be hurting like she did? She didn't want him to know he deserved it; she wanted him to feel pain.

"I am mad! At myself, I screwed up damn it!" He shouted.

"At me, you idiot, be mad at me!" She cried.

"Why the hell would I be mad at you?" He muttered. "It was my fault, not yours." He added bitterly.

"Damn right it was!" She sneered. If he wasn't going to be mad than he was going to be guilty. She needed some emotion for him, not empathy.

"I know!"

"No you don't! Do you know how scared I was, how completely terrified I felt? I was just told that I was pregnant and freaking out because I wasn't married and sure as hell wasn't prepared for a kid, but you know what? I knew I was keeping it, that I wasn't giving it up! I knew there was going to be hell and I'd probably be fired from my school for committing a sin like this, hell I was probably going to Hell, but you know what else I thought?"

"What?" He whispered feeling more guilty than he'd ever experienced. He had no idea what she went through, he deserved to burn in Hell.

"I thought, 'you know what? It's okay'. It's okay because I may not know a lot but I knew you weren't going to leave me! I knew you loved me and that you were going to support me no matter how bitchy I got with hormones and shit! I knew, I _knew,_ damn it that you weren't like the other guys and that you were going to stay!"

She was half crying now, and Vic had tears in his eyes too.

"But I was wrong. When I got home you said you wanted to end things and that we shouldn't be together. That we should split up. You didn't even look at me." She whispered softly with tears running down her cheeks.

"And you know what?"

"No."

"That almost killed me. I swear to God Q, if you weren't the father I would've killed you right there like you were killing me. They told me you were insane and a psycho and that I should just leave you alone, but you know what I said?"

"What?" He choked out beginning to cry as well.

"I told them to screw themselves. That I could make my own decisions. They called me the same things and I figured that if they were wrong about me than they could be wrong about you."

"I'm so sorry." He whispered.

"No."

"No?"

"Don't be sorry. Will you just stop saying that!" She cried. "Don't be sorry, be furious, hate me, damn it!" Throw something or punch me or. . . anything! Just, God, stop saying you're sorry!" She sobbed.

"What do you want me to say?" He whimpered.

"Anything but that! God, show some emotion, for once!" She screamed. "God, I don't know just show some emotion!" She begged beating him against his chest with her fists as she sobbed hysterically.

"Helena, I-"

"You can't, can you?" She finally asked wiping away her tears on her sleeves. "I must be crazy, I mean I left you alone with Bella! God, Dinah told me it was a bad idea and that I should just leave it alone, but I couldn't, could I?" She sobbed. "I told her to shut up and that Bella needed a Daddy and that you would treat her good even if you didn't know she was your daughter. I'm so stupid!"

"You're not stupid you're-"

"Shut up Vic. Just shut the hell up!" She sniffed, grabbing her purse as she turned to leave. "I don't want Bella spending any more time with you!" She spat as she stormed out the door.

"Helena, wait!" He cried.

"Leave me alone!" She begged.

His shoulders sagged as he dropped onto his couch. How could he have screwed up so badly? All he wanted to do was stop hurting her, but he hadn't. God, he was such an asshole. No wonder Helena and Bella hated him.

He rubbed his temples as he cried silently.

He told her he was sorry. He had meant it too. He'd never been more regretful of anything in his life. He'd left when she needed him most and he'd never forgive himself. Their love was special, not your every day kind, and he'd thrown it away.

He still loved her and he was still sorry.

He just didn't know if that was enough anymore.

* * *

Helena stormed out of the apartment building and into the parking lot.

That-that idiot! Why the hell did he have to be so understanding and guilty? She wanted him to feel pain like she did, have him yell at her so she'd feel better.

Didn't he know how hard it was to be mad at someone when you knew they were guilt-stricken?

She wiped away a few stray tears as her heels angrily clicked against the pavement.

She flung open the door to the front seat of her car and threw her purse down in a fit of rage.

"-We had some cereal and-Mama! What's wrong?" Bella exclaimed in horror. Was Mama crying? Mama was the strongest person she knew, she'd never cried before. What could have possibly made her so upset?

"Mama why are you-"

"Because of you're _figlio di puttana_ of a father, that's why!" Helena shouted before she could stop herself.

Dead silence, then, "_What?"_

* * *

**A/N Lots of angst in this chapter:( And now Bella's in on the secret too.**

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	8. If Life Was Simple And Love Was Easy

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

******Thank you all for the reviews! Oh, and since someone asked this is in the DCAU so that's where I'm basing the characters personalities off of.**

* * *

_"What?"_

Helena groaned and dropped her face into her hands. Why the hell did she have to say that? Seven years she kept quiet and now she'd gone and blown the whole thing up. "Ugh, Bella wait until we get home."

"But Mama-"

"Isabella!" She snapped.

"Yes ma'am." The little girl muttered, a thousand thoughts spinning around in her head.

Helen sighed and rubbed her temples. She picked up her phone and hit an emergency contact button. "J'onn, it's me again. No, I'm fine. Yeah, she's good; listen I need a favor. I know J'onn, I just need you to beam me to my place, okay? Yeah, me, Bella, my car, all of us. It's complicated. You're a telepath figure it out yourself! Thanks, bye."

A moment later a beam of light surrounded them and they were suddenly in their driveway.

"Mama?" Bella whimpered. "What did you say again?"

"Nothing, sweetie." She tried.

"Mama...it was something about you being mad at Daddy. You called him a bad word."

"Yes," Helen admitted reluctantly. "I did."

"Why; you guys haven't talked since-"

"Today."

"Huh?"

"We haven't spoken since...today. This afternoon when I came and picked you up."

"Oh. Did he call you?" She asked hopefully.

"Not exactly."

"Then how-?"

"Bella...baby...think about it for a second." Helena whispered closing her eyes.

Bella thought about it. When did Mama talk to Daddy? It had to be after Bella left the apartment since that's when she got so sad, but before she went in the car. So that meant it was while she was with Mr. Vic, which meant. . .

Wait a minute; Mr. Vic.

Mr. Vic. Mr. Vic; why was that nagging her? He had dated Mama, Mama had just talked to him and said she was upset after chatting with Daddy, Mr. Vic had blue-green eyes. Why was that so important?

She had blue-green eyes.

Then it hit her like a ton of rocks. Mama hadn't been talking to Daddy while she was talking to Mr. Vic, she'd been talking to both of them! Because...they were the same person. So that meant...

Daddy was Mr. Vic, Mr. Vic was her Daddy.

"Daddy's Mr. Vic!" She squeaked.

Helena nodded her head miserably, not opening her eyes. "Yes."

"But, how-? You told me Daddy's name was Charles Szazs, not Vic Sage!"

"He goes by his middle name, Victor; or Vic for short." Helena sighed. "And he changed his last name."

"But, but..." No! That couldn't be right! Daddy couldn't be Mr. Vic, that didn't make sense! Auntie Dinah hated Mr. Vic and she...hated Daddy. Daddy had dated Mama. Mr. Vic dated Mama. Mama said Daddy was kinda strange, Mr. Vic was definitely strange. So...she had a Daddy after all. A Daddy with no face, but still.

Suddenly an awful thought struck her. "But, Mama, he can't be!" She whaled, beginning to cry. She had been so mean to him! She'd thought he was using her but if he was her Daddy then he wasn't. And no duh he had photos of Mama, he'd dated her! How could she have misinterpreted that so wrong?

"No Mama, no!" She sobbed. "I'm mean, and I didn't mean to-mean to!"

"What, babygirl?"

"I was a brat!" Bella cried. "I said I hated him and he said nothing and he has photos and was nice to me and kissed my ouchie and-" Hearing her Mother beginning to cry in the front seat cut her off.

"No Mama, please don't cry!" Bella begged. She'd already hurt Daddy; she didn't want to be mean to Mama too.

Mama didn't say anything as she rubbed her temples.

"Mama, no!" She tried to unhook the belt to her car seat unsuccessfully. Damn the Chinese and their ability to make seats that chained in innocent children! "Mama, please." She whimpered.

"I'm sorry, Honey, so, so sorry."

"No, it was fun. Daddy was really nice and tried super hard to make me happy." Bella tried hoping to make Mama feel better. "He even bought me a Disney movie and tucked me in and gave me Mr. Stitchy and taught me stuff and didn't tell me to shut up even once!"

"Not once, he must have been nice, then." Helena snorted.

"Yeah!" Bella enthused. "He was! He had a box like yours in his closet like you do and there were pictures of you two-"

"What were we doing?" Helena asked suddenly in alarm. Her mind flashed back to when they were dating and she'd been reading an article in _Cosmopolitan _about some...fun things to do with your boyfriend and a camera. So they tried it and, well, she hadn't even thought to ask for the tape or any of the photos back. If Bella saw that then she was going to have _a lot _of explaining to do.

"Well, in one you were just smiling and hugging; that was the one under your arrow. The other one you were on a bed-"

_Shit! Oh PLEASE not be what I think it is!_

"Wearing a nightgown and smiling at the camera with these weird tights on and these scary-looking heels. The back said it was Valentine's Day, why would you wear something like that? It couldn't be that warm." Bella suddenly asked.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Helena muttered giving a silent prayer of thanks her daughter hadn't seen the erotic tape or images. This was a lot tamer. "Any other questions, Missy?"

"Um, why aren't you and Daddy talking?"

". . ." Helena took a minute to answer. "We had a fight."

"Oh. Was it a bad one?"

"Yeah, but he started it."

"Did you finish it?"

Helena looked at her daughter in the back seat; frowning and trying to make sense of something far beyond her years.

"No. I don't think I did."

* * *

Vic took another sip of the beer.

He wasn't drunk, just...being distracted. Honestly, he wouldn't have any more than two tonight. At least he hoped so.

He sat on his couch wondering how the hell he managed to screw up so royally, after all, he'd just wanted to make Helena's' life easier.

Whoops.

It wasn't fair. Helena hated him, Bella probably hated him too, what did he have left? Nothing, at least nothing he really wanted. He wished he would've known about Bella, maybe he could have done a better job instead of the shitty one he recently attempted.

He kind of doubted it though.

Still, just because Helen didn't love him didn't mean he didn't love her or Bella. He wanted to see them again, or at least Bella.

Helen wouldn't like it though, and he hated making her miserable. Not that he hadn't been doing that for years now. Still, he had a tiny bit of right to see her.

Maybe Helena would let him, just so he could explain things to her and say what he wanted to.

He just hoped she'd give him the chance.

* * *

"Stupid. . .faceless. . .asshole. . ." Helena muttered.

She punched another robber in the face, partially wishing it was Vic she was hitting instead.

That damn man.

He made her feel a lot of things, and that scared her. She just needed strength to fight, metaphorically and physically, nothing else. Besides, he didn't feel anything even when she did all she could to hurt him emotionally.

The man was like Buddha.

"Jeez, what's got you upset?" Dinah asked hopping onto the rooftop and seeing the bloodied and beaten robbers.

"What do you think?" Helena spat.

"I think you need help besides beating the shit out of criminals."

"Pft, that's the best therapy there is." Huntress smirked.

"No, but seriously; are you okay?" Dinah asked worriedly.

"Yeah mom, I'm fine." Helena cracked. "Just...I don't really know what to call it."

"But it's bad?"

"Yeah, really bad." Huntress shuddered. "Vic's being freaking Buddha and acting like he's fine with not knowing he had a kid and saying he knows he deserves it. Not even sarcastically, I mean what the hell? And Bella, poor baby, I don't even know what she's thinking."

"She found out?"

"Yeah, I kinda told her." Huntress admitted. "But not on purpose, at least. I mean what am I supposed to say, he left me for no good reason and I never told him you existed? That he shared my bed and left me with a baby but didn't know it, what? What should I do?"

"How should I know?"

"Isn't Ollie always finding out he's got a bunch of little bastards running around all over the place?"

"Not all the time!" Dinah protested.

"But...?"

Dinah sighed. "Just make sure she knows you love her. Oh, and you should probably make it clear you two are done permanently."

"Well..."

"You are _not _thinking of taking him back!" Dinah exclaimed, outraged.

"No! Jeez, I just mean how am I supposed to explain that?"

Dinah shrugged. "I don't know."

"Thanks." Helena growled sarcastically as Dinah left.

Why couldn't life be simple and love be easy?

* * *

**A/N Oh, figlio di puttana is Italian for son of a bitch.**

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	9. We All Wanted To See Him

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

******A/N Thank you for all the awesome reviews, you guys rock!**

* * *

Bella thoughtfully tapped her cheek in contemplation.

What to do, how to do it?

She knew what she needed to do, of course. She needed to apologize to Daddy, make Mama happy again, and get them back together so they could all live happily ever after.

Well, the last part was more of a nice dream.

She still had to tell Daddy why she'd acted like such a meanie to him, but she didn't really know how. What to do, what to do?

She sighed and slid off of her pink bed, beginning to search her room for Mr. Stitchy. He might not talk much but he was a great listener, no matter how much she talked.

_Just like Daddy. _She thought looking under her bed for her most prized position. _Except I've know Mr. Stitchy way longer._

Finally, after searching her entire room, she remembered something very important: She'd been in such a hurry to leave she'd forgotten poor Mr. Stitchy.

At first she started to panic; how was she supposed to sleep tonight after all she'd learned without Mr. Stitchy? Today had been completely crazy and she needed her little blue alien to comfort her.

Suddenly, another thought struck her.

Mr. Stitchy was at Daddy's house so...he'd have to come over to give it back! But how to get him here, she didn't know his number and he'd only visit if Mama called him or asked.

But what if he just _thought _Mama asked? He'd still come, right?

With a smug grin she walked out of her room and tiptoed into the den where the computer was. She put a dictionary on the chair and climbed on it, now at level with the monitor. She logged on and began to type an E-mail.

Hey, she might not know the mans address, but she knew she could find it out.

Bella was a conniving genius when it came to computers.

After about twenty minutes of searching she found what she was looking for and quickly typed a short message, spell checked, and hit the send button.

A moment later a slightly guilty feeling began to form in her stomach and she wondered if this was wrong. She quickly dismissed the thought; all she was really doing was getting her best friend back.

Well, Mama might not see it like that. But hey, she was just trying to get her most prized possession into her grasp, and that wasn't so wrong.

Besides, if Mama and Daddy saw each other again and remembered how much they loved each other then they could be together again and she'd have a real family; like the ones on Disney.

Well, maybe not Disney since it was evil according to Daddy. But still, a nice, complete little family in a little house on the prairie.

Or a small apartment in downtown Gotham.

Bella wasn't that picky.

* * *

Vic sighed as he busily typed away, loosing himself in his work.

Work was a great distraction. It was so easy to get himself lost in the conspiracy and put all his focus into revealing the one-world government.

Well, except for today.

He fought back a groan, why did life have to be so unfair sometimes? He just learned he had a daughter and now he was probably never going to be able to see her again.

Didn't little girls need their Daddy's? Who else was supposed to tell them about all of the corruption in the world and make sure they didn't date until they're thirty?

Suddenly a message appeared in his in-box. From Helena.

He clicked on it, hoping it wasn't some virus from hell she was unleashing on his poor laptop.

It was an E-mail.

_Dear Vic,_

_Hi! When Bella was staying with you she forgot her favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Stitchy, and needs you to bring it to our house as soon as possible. Tomorrow morning would be good._

_Helena_

_P.S Bella says she's sorry and that she didn't know you were her Daddy otherwise she wouldn't have been so mean. She's very happy you're her Daddy and she loves you very much._

He blinked in surprise as he read the message. It didn't quite sound like Helena. He did a quick check, the message had definitely come from her computer.

For a second he wondered if Bella sent this but dismissed the thought quickly. He didn't even know if she could read yet, let alone hack a computer to send an E-mail. After all, she was only six.

He felt his heart soar with joy when he read the last part. She was happy he was her father despite all the hell he'd put them through? She loved him? He really hoped Helena wasn't just typing that, he seriously doubted it though.

He got up and after a few minutes of searching found the blue alien sitting on his couch. He picked it up and quickly left his apartment.

He headed to Helena's' house.

* * *

Helena yawned and poured herself a cup of coffee.

Mm, coffee was good in the morning, especially when you had a six-year-old whose goal seemed to be to chew your ear off.

"But mine's purple. Purple's such a pretty color it just has to be my favorite. Know what else's is good? Waffles with chocolate chips and whipped-cream and lots and lots of syrup. I like syrup on pancakes to, especially with blueberries. Can we have pancakes this morning Mama, can we?"

"Bella, sweetie, you're giving Mama a migraine." Helena sighed, causing Bella to erupt in a fit of giggles. "Go get dressed and I'll make you something."

"Blueberry pancakes?"

"That depends on how fast you get into your room to change." Helena smirked as her daughter bolted out of the room.

She hoped they weren't out of blueberries.

She was about to go check when she heard a knock on her door. Wondering who the hell sold stuff this early in the morning she opened the door preparing to tell the salesman to go away when she came face to face with Vic.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She growled.

A slightly confused look flickered across his face. "Ah, Bella left this." The bastard-maker explained holding up the stuffed animal.

"Oh? Oh!" She exclaimed realizing that he didn't just to screw up her day by dropping by. "Uh, come in I guess."

He walked in quietly, looking around the small kitchen. "So...how are you?"

"I'm still mad at you." She frowned.

"Hurm." He muttered looking at her in a small nightgown and purple robe.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were coming." Helena said somewhat apologetically. "Otherwise I'd have cleaned up. I look like crap."

"You look beautiful." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"No, Vic, just... no." Helena shook her head. "Don't, okay? I don't want compliments and I don't want apologies, all right? We're barely getting along as it is."

"Sorry." He apologized. "Oh, wait you just said no more...sorry, ugh!" He groaned.

"I'll let it pass this time." Helena frowned. _That's the only second chance you're getting, mister. I may have partially forgiven you, but I can't forget_. "Just don't do it again."

He opened his mouth to reply when suddenly a pink and purple blur flew through the kitchen and jumped into his arms. "Daddy!" Bella exclaimed joyously.

"Oof!" Vic grunted.

"Did you bring Mr. Stitchy? I bet you did, oh you did, thanks! Oh Daddy I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were my Daddy and you are and I was mean and I'm really sorry and I hope you forgive me even though I don't think Disney's evil and stuff. I'm actually really happy that you're my Daddy 'cause you're nice to me even though I wasn't nice and you helped find Mr. Stitchy and stuff so thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Uh, what?"

"Just say you're welcome." Helena suggested taking a sip of her coffee and frowning at them. Why didn't he leave already?

"Uh, Vic, why are you here? It's rude to show up when you're not invited." She glared making her feelings about the situation perfectly clear.

Vic frowned. "Didn't. You sent me an E-mail to bring...that back here."

"'_That' _is Mr. Stitchy." Isabella corrected.

"No I didn't." Helen frowned. What the hell was he trying to pull?

"You did, I even checked, see." He said digging in his pockets and pulling out the message before handing it to her.

Helen stared at it for a minute. "I didn't send this."

"It came from your computer, I checked." Question argued.

Huntress fought back a sigh as a suspicious thought began forming in her head. "Bella...did you send this?"

"No."

"Bella. . ."

"Well, maybe a little bit..."

"Isabella!"

"Okay I did, yeesh." Bella muttered.

Helena sighed and rubbed her temple. "And you didn't tell me this, why?"

"I thought you'd be mad."

"I am."

"Oopsie."

"Yeah, oopsie."

"Ahem." Vic coughed. "Sorry, didn't know I wasn't supposed to-"

"It's fine, not that it's your fault anyway." Helen muttered waving him off. "Just, leave, I guess. Talk to you soon, maybe."

"Can he stay for breakfast?" Bella begged.

Helena made an I-can't-believe-I'm-the-bad-parent-here-and-I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass-later-for-this face at Vic.

Before she could respond, Vic interrupted her. "No, I already ate. Talk to you later?" He asked Helena who shook her head and sighed.

"No; one, she's gonna be grounded, and two I told you I don't want you two spending a lot of time together."

"But, Mama-"

"Maybe later, okay?"

"That sounds...reasonable." Vic nodded. It was more than he expected to get. "Good-bye."

"Bye Daddy!" Bella said sweetly giving him a hug.

When he left she turned back to Mama. "I think you should date him again and give him breakfast."

"I think you're too smart for your own good. Hacking a computer, what were you thinking?"

"I wanted to see Daddy."

"I know, baby." She sighed rubbing her daughters shoulders. "I know."

* * *

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	10. Then Why Did You Let Me Go?

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

******A/N Yay, over a hundred reviews, thanks! *Does very stupid happy dance***

* * *

Question was on monitor duty when his private cell went off. Curiously, he looked to see who was calling him.

It was Helen.

Intrigued, he answered it before cautiously asking, "Hello?"

"Vic? It's Helena."

"Oh, hello."

"Yeah, hi. Look I need you to beam down and come over to my house and do something with me, okay?"

"Do what?"

"A favor, okay. Look, I just need you to come to a conference with me."

"About?"

"Bella."

"Oh. Why?"

"She got in trouble, okay. The stupid teacher scheduled a parent-teacher conference and we have to go."

"Why is my presence needed?"

"I don't want it. Bella told her teacher she'd been hanging out with you lately and now she wants both of us there, alright?"

"When is it?"

"This afternoon at 2:30 in the school."

"Which school?"

"I thought you knew everything."

"Actually as time progresses I realize just how little I know."

"Huh; well it's at St. Anthony's, next to the church."

"The one by the coffee shop?"

"That's the one."

"Interesting. I suppose I'll see you soon."

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"Helena, I said I was sorry and I am. I just want to see you and Bella again. She's my daughter, don't I have some right?"

"Do you want my opinion or the government's?"

"Helena. . ."

"Look, I'm letting you see her today, aren't I? Besides, I didn't say you could never see her, just not very often."

"How often?"

"You're getting me mad now."

"Sorry."

"What did I tell you about apologizing?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good boy. See you there?"

"Yes. Goodb-" He was cut off by hearing her hang-up the phone without saying goodbye. He fought back a sigh as he stood up and stretched; that hadn't gone as well as he hoped it would.

He moped over to the teleporter pads and beamed down to where Helena lived.

He was just happy he got to see them again.

* * *

Helena tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for Vic to arrive.

She nervously ran her hand through her hair. What had her baby girl done that was so bad? Sure Bella wasn't perfect (if she had a dime for every time she caught her hacking something) but she definitely wasn't a bad kid.

She just had a tiny problem with telling the difference between the right to do something and whether or not you should.

"Ahem." Vic coughed from behind her.

She spun around to face him. "Yeah, hi. Come on, we have to go in now."

"What did she do?"

"I don't know." Helena hissed.

The rest of the walk into the building was silent.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence and cold shoulders they arrived at the classroom and took a seat.

Bella had been sitting in a chair next to the desk and immediately brightened up when they walked in the room. "Hi Mama and Daddy!"

"Hey sweetie." Helena sighed sitting down as Vic shot a weary smile in his daughters direction.

"Thank you for coming." The teacher said. "Now I've asked you two to come here because of a little problem Bella had with a student this morning."

"Not _a _student, the worst one ever. Sarah Dipman's a jerk!" Bella exclaimed.

"Bella!" Helena snapped.

"Well, it's true..."

"As I was saying, Bella got into a bit of an argument today with Sarah and told her to go to hell."

"Isabella Rosa!" Helen exclaimed in shock.

"Well when Daddy was my age he told a _nun _to go to hell!"

"Vic!"

"What? I was young and angry; and I meant it."

"Victor!"

"Ahem." The teacher whose name tag read Mrs. Jenkins coughed. "But as I was saying, she told her to go to hell and made her cry because, as we all know, that is a horrible place and a terrible thing to say."

"But I didn't say that!" Bella protested. "You don't even know what really happened."

"What happened, then?" Vic asked, intrigued.

Bella took a moment to smooth out her uniform before answering. "Well, I was talking to Sarah Dipman, Charlotte O'Hara, and Patty Gomez about parents. Patty said her parents were divorced then asked me about you two. I said that you weren't divorced because you were never married, duh! So Sarah gets all crazy and asks me if I knew what that meant. I said, 'yeah, it means they didn't have to fill out a bunch of paperwork' and she called me a dum-dum so I said she was stupid."

She took a breath and again continued. "So she asked me if I knew what that _really _meant and I was like 'well apparently not'. So then she said it meant that I was a bastard because I was born out of med-jock-"

"Wed-lock." Vic corrected weakly. He knew where this was going and he didn't like it.

"Yeah, that. So apparently I'm a bastard and she said that meant I was gonna go to Hell because of you guys. And I said 'no, Mama and Daddy are awesome! They wouldn't send me to Hell!' and she said it wasn't they're choice. So everyone was freaking out because I was apparently gonna burn and I said 'Sarah, if you're so fascinated with Hell then why don't you go there?' and she got sooo upset. Mama, what's a bastard?"

"...It means your parents weren't married when you were born." Helena explained weakly.

"Oh, so I _am_ a bastard?" Bella asked in confusion.

"No!" Vic snapped.

"But you just said-"

"There's more than one definition." Helena lied.

"Oh, okay." Bella blinked. Why were they so upset?

"Look, if you could maybe just tell her why it's not a good thing to tell people to go to hell-"

"Did you hear a word of that?" Helena spat, cutting off the teacher. "She didn't do anything wrong. It's not my fault you believe the kid with two rich parents who fund the school."

She stood up and grabbed her daughter by the hand. "Come on, we're leaving." She looked in Vic's direction. "You come too."

* * *

Bella happily sat on a bench licking her ice cream cone.

If this was punishment, then she really wanted to see a reward.

She wondered why Mama and Daddy seemed so upset by the whole Hell-thing. Okay, so her parents weren't married. Big whoop, neither were most Americans. It didn't mean she had to go to Hell.

Mama and Daddy had seemed so quiet and sad. She asked Daddy (after Mama stepped out for a minute) if she really was a bastard.

Daddy looked so guilty.

Then he told her that in a legal sense she was a teeny-weeny bit, but she really wasn't. She was more of a love-child. Bella thought that word was nice and pretty, a good thing. Bastard sounded mean.

Why would you call someone something mean when they didn't do anything? Adults were so silly sometimes. She looked over at Mama and Daddy talking a few meters away from her.

Mama looked mad, really mad and was making all these weird hand gestures.

Daddy looked like he was gonna cry.

That couldn't be right. Daddy's' never cried, it was a rule. Wasn't it? She hoped she didn't make him so sad, she was still feeling guilty for the whole brat stunt she'd pulled.

She watched her parents calm down as they talked. Mama even smiled a bit.

She hoped they'd start loving each other soon.

* * *

"Now do you get why I don't like you very much anymore?" Helena hissed, trying to keep her voice down.

"Yes, but damn it I didn't know! If you'd have told me-"

"Nothing would have been fixed. I didn't want you to come back because you had to, idiot! I wanted you to come home because you loved me, not that I still want you to come back..."

"I get it, alright! I just want to spend some time with her, please Helena; she's my daughter too."

"Yeah, 'too', but she's mainly mine." Helena glared. "You honestly want to be her Dad now after all these years?"

"Yes, and I don't think you really hate me so much or want to keep me away. Otherwise you wouldn't have left her in my care."

She opened her mouth to yell at him, her face red. Why the hell did a guy who needed a therapist have to act like one? She couldn't think of a thing to say.

If she was hoping for him to gloat, she was severally disappointed. An unbelievably sad look flashed across his face. "Helen...please."

Oh, she wanted to yell at him so badly! But. . .

He looked like he was ready to cry.

Coming from a guy who was as calm as Buddha, rarely even smiled much less cried, and had been beaten to a pulp and dragged through Hell and back, well, that got to her a little bit.

But only a little bit.

Okay, he wasn't asking for a second chance with her, he just wanted to know his child. She took a deep breath. "Look...I don't like you very much." It made her feel a tiny bit better when she saw the look of regret on his face. "But you are Bella's' father. Blood means a lot in my family; family's important."

"Your Father told you that." Vic remembered.

"Yes, he did. So I might not like you but...for Bella, I'd be willing to work something out. In a father-daughter sense, I mean."

"Okay." Vic nodded.

She smiled at him sadly. "You remembered what I told you about my Papa?"

"Of course, I remember everything about you. I loved you like crazy." _I still do, but I like my jaw where it is so I won't tell you that._

"I know. Uh, Bella's pretty much done eating so let's go get her before she starts chewing off some old woman's ear." Helen suggested.

"Okay." Vic shrugged as they walked off.

Helena only had one thing on her mind, not that she would ever admit it to anyone. She could barely think it in her own mind.

_If you loved me so much, then why did you let me go?_

* * *

**A/N Eep, this chapter was pretty angsty. Maybe I'll do a fluffy one next:)**

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	11. Art Sucks

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

**A/N Thanks to everyone who reviews this fic, love ya'!**

* * *

Bella was interrupted from her favorite show by a knock on the door.

Timing it perfectly right so she wouldn't miss anything, she quickly leaped up and made a bolt for it. "Daddy!" She exclaimed, jumping up and hugging Vic.

"Um, yes. I am." He muttered, patting her back awkwardly.

She frowned, all of the fathers in world and she got stuck with one that didn't know how to hug. Oh well, she could teach him.

"Where is your mother?" He asked as he put her down.

"In here!" Called Helena from her room. "Hey, could you help me with something?"

"Uh, sure." He muttered. The last time Helena had asked him to help her with something he'd walked in on her laying on their bed completely naked with a bottle of lotion telling him she needed help rubbing it on some very hard to reach areas.

He complied and it had been fantastic.

Trying to get that exact memory out of his head, he stumbled into Helena's room and caught sight if her standing in front of a mirror struggling with a zipper on her favorite cocktail dress.

He remembered that dress very well, its short velvet fabric, a tantalizingly low cut in the front, the deep red color, and impossibly small straps. The last time he'd seen that dress he'd been trying desperately to get it off so he could have is way with her, but the damn zipper wouldn't budge.

Of course, once he'd accomplished what he'd been trying to do it was worth it but...at least she'd fixed that annoying zipper.

"My zipper's stuck," She explained. "can you help me zip it up?"

"Sure."

Helena smiled and looked away. She'd seen the way he was staring at her in this totally inappropriate for a mother dress. She bet he was remembering the last time he'd gotten to take it off.

_Hope you enjoy the view Viccy; this is the closest you'll get to seeing me naked again. _She thought defiantly.

He shuffled over to her quietly and gently grasped the zipper in his hands. "This one?"

"That's the only one there is, idiot."

"Sorry." He mumbled, running a finger down her spine.

Helena shivered; she'd forgotten the way he used to do that in bed. She frowned, she'd let it him get away with it this time but if he tried it again...

Vic stared at the black lace of her bra strap. He hated those things, those demonic little things that always seemed hell-bent on torturing him. If he had a dime for every time they'd made him feel like an idiot...

Helena closed her eyes as she felt Vic press his body against hers gently. And, maybe, not that she'd ever admit it, she leaned against him too.

Q gently took her hair into his hand and brushed it over her shoulder, reveling in its softness as he inhaled her scent. Oh how he missed trying to get that scent out of his clothes before his co-workers laughed at him.

Helena sighed as she felt Vic's' warm breath on her neck. The last time she'd felt him do that Helena had been being pressed against a mattress while Vic panted and groaned as he moved inside of her.

Helena was not an idiot; actually, she was very far from it. The problem was even though her head was pissed at him her body missed his like a drug.

Vic placed his hand over the zipper. "Found it."

"Mm..." She murmured under her breath.

She felt him slowly move his other hand until it rested on her thigh. Lost in the sensations, she slowly used her hands to lift his up and gently cup her neck.

Vic stared down at her warm, inviting skin. His eyes roamed over her neck as he bent his head down, his lips millimeters from her neck. He slowly pursed them...

...Only to have Bella begin to laugh in the room next to theirs.

The moment was gone as the couple quickly jumped apart. Vic avoided Helena's gaze as she turned away, red-faced. What, one touch and she was ready to hop back into bed with him? No way in hell.

Vic felt his face turn red as he awkwardly followed Helene out of the room. He didn't understand what had just happened, but he'd liked it.

Bella looked up at her parents as they entered the room. "Daddy are you okay? You look hot."

_Oh, yeah, he's hot all right. _Helena thought with a grin. _I mean he's hot for ME, not that he's not hot to begin with. I mean-ugh, get out of my head Vic! I haven't forgiven you yet._

"No, no, I'm alright." He waved them off.

Bella turned her gaze back to her mother. "Ooh, Mama you look hot!" She exclaimed in approval. "Daddy, doesn't she look hot?"

Vic gave an awkward cough. "Er, she looks very beautiful."

"Well she always does but doesn't she look _really _hot tonight?" Bella pressed.

"Yes." Vic finally admitted.

Helena smiled at him, "I hope so, I mean I shaved my legs and everything." _I'm going to have fun with this._

"Okay." _She's going to have way too much fun torturing me like this._

"Got a nice dress on an everything." _Not that you care, you only want to take it off._

"I know, I helped zipper it back up. So whom are you going out with tonight?" _Hope she gives me a last name; I need to do a back round check on this mystery man._

"Roger." _No way in hell are you getting a last name, you'll do a back round check on him._

"Ah, is he nice?" _Damn it, I wanted a last name._

"Very. Do you think I look okay?" _Now we're back to the tempting game, yay!_

"Beautiful." _But not as good as you did in my shirt._

"Thanks." _I will not blush! _"What about you, do you date much?"

"Not really. It's hard to find someone willing to put up with me, let alone love me." _Well, I found you. But you were too good for me and I had to let you go._

"I didn't think it was that hard." _Why did I just say that?_

"Oh." _See, you're perfect._

A knock was suddenly heard from the door. "I'll get it." Helena said quickly as she headed out to greet her guest.

"Hello 'Lena." Roger grinned as he bent down and kissed her cheek.

"Hi Roger." She smiled.

The brown-haired man suddenly frowned, "Who's this?" He asked, gesturing to Vic.

"My Daddy." Bella explained.

Roger looked at Helena for an explanation. "He's my ex boyfriend." She sighed. "He's only here to baby-sit our daughter."

"Okay." Roger frowned, offering Helena his hand. "Shall we?"

"Let's." She grinned as they waltzed out the door.

Bella turned to Vic. "I don't like him."

"Hurm." Vic muttered as he watched them leave. "Neither do I."

* * *

Helena had been having a crappy night.

It had started off great; they went to a nice dinner and ordered delicious food. Then, he'd started talking. Roger was apparently a big fan of the Yankees, and while Helena had nothing against sports she also knew nothing about them so there'd been almost nothing for the two of them to discuss.

After dinner Roger had taken her to, of all places, a museum. Helena was _not _a museum person; all those boring paintings and old people wandering around did not exactly make it her favorite place to be. The only time Helena willingly went to a museum (Excluding field trips, of course) was to kick ass during robberies.

To make matters worse, Helena had came here once to bust a robbery with Vic the two had ended up going at it like dogs in heat in a spare closet. So she was stuck here with a sports fanatic trying desperately not to think of sexy memories of her ex in a museum that was boring her to tears.

That wasn't even the worst part.

While wandering through the dreaded museum, they had enters an exhibit titled _Mad Love_.

The entire hallway was decorated with histories most violent couples doing horrible things and completely enjoying themselves. There were paintings of Bonnie and Clyde holding hands as they broke into a bank, Harley and the Joker clanking wine glasses as Batman was lowered into a pit of acid, and Hitler and his lover kissing as millions of Jews caught on fire around them.

There had also been a painting of her and Vic.

They were perched on a hill in front of Arkham Asylum. Vic in his Question gear was behind her, an arm around her waist while she leaned against him and slid her right arm around his neck. Her face was contorted in pleasure as Vic's' 'face' nuzzled her neck. Her crossbow was loaded against his head and he had a gun pressed to her thigh as red blood poured down the hill, bodies laying in the back round.

Roger noticed her staring and looked at the picture. "Damn, Huntress is crazy hot!" She gave him a point for that. "To bad she's such a psycho!" She deducted the point. "Could you imagine the kid they'd have; it'd be crazy!" And he was out.

Swearing under her breath, she opened the door to her home and stepped inside to reveal Vic passed out on her couch with Bella on his lap, _Lilo and Stitch _playing in the back round.

With a small smile tugging on her lips she quietly walked towards him. "Hey."

He tiredly blinked his eyes open. "Hello. What's wrong?"

She propped her elbow on the couch and rested her chin on it. "Nothing, my date just really sucked."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Sorry about what?"

"Sorry that he missed out on such a beautiful woman."

"Vic..."

"I know, I know; no compliments."

She smirked. "You still have those orange socks?"

"They're comfortable." He shrugged getting up. "Good bye, I'll see you Thursday."

"Huh?"

"Bella has a Tae-Kwon-Do tournament and invited me to go. I'll see you there."

"Fine." She sighed. "Bye, Vic."

"Bye." He smiled.

He was just glad this time it wasn't permanent.

* * *

**A/N Review please!**


	12. Wins and Losses

**A/N I don't own anyone but Bella. **

**************A/N Thanks to everyone who reviews this fic, love ya'!**

* * *

"So, are you ready?"

"I think so. I mean I'm all dressed and stuff and I know all my moves and my hair's up but I'm kinda nervous and a little hungry even though I just ate my cereal. It was really good cereal too, I mean I just love Lucky Charms even though there's never enough marshmallows in them. You know what I don't get, though; what the heck is that blue one? A balloon? Why is a balloon even lucky?"

"Bella, baby, I just asked if you were ready. If you're that upset, I'll stop buying it." Helena smirked.

"I'm ready." Bella said quickly, not willing to loose her favorite cereal. "Daddy's coming, right?"

"He said he would."

"Is that a yes?"

"I think so." Helena shrugged. "He'd better." _Because if he doesn't I'll rip off his lack of face._

"If he doesn't come are you gonna rip his face off?"

"Yep."

"Well as long as you're honest about it."

Helena smirked. "So, what are you gonna do today?"

"Kick butt and kick it hard!" Bella declared with a grin.

"That's my girl." Helena nodded in approval. "I'll doubt they'll ever be able to sit again."

"I hope not, I'd feel really bad if that happens." Bella replied worriedly. "I mean you guys taught me how to kick pretty hard. Well, you and Aunt Dinah did, Uncle Ollie didn't really teach me anything but how to play poker."

Helena rubbed her temples. "He taught you how to play poker?"

"Yeah, but now I can beat him so we don't play as much." Bella said wistfully. She'd really like playing poker too. "Do you think I'll do okay?"

"Babygirl, you're gonna kick _culo _today." Helena said confidently. "Remember how well you did in your last tournament?"

"I won." Bella said thoughtfully. "But that was MMA, this is TKD."

"Call it what you want but you're still kicking the crap out of each other." Helena smiled.

"Mama! That's a bad word!" Bella exclaimed, horrified at her Mothers language.

"You've heard worse on the bus." Helena said dismissively. "But like I was saying, if there's one thing I taught you it's how to kick the living hell out of people, right?"

"Yep."

"Then stop being nervous!" Helena chided, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her daughters face. "Ugh, I swear your hair doesn't like to be put up!"

"It doesn't like ponytails very much." Bella explained.

"I can tell." Helena muttered. "It's been driving me crazy for years now."

Bella giggled and opened her mouth to respond when she caught sight of a red haired man walking towards them. "Daddy!" She exclaimed joyously giving him a hug.

"Uh, hello." Vic mumbled.

Bella looked up at him semi-annoyed. "You know, you _are _allowed to hug me. I won't bite, I might punch a little, but I won't bite."

Vic smiled lightly and ruffled her hair. "I hope not."

"Ugh, thanks, I just spent twenty minutes trying to fix her hair and in two seconds you mess it up again." Helena glared at him.

"Hello to you too." Vic muttered.

Bella looked at them sadly. Mommy's and Daddy's were supposed to love each other and live together and have other kids. Why did her Mama and Daddy not like each other? Well, Daddy liked Mama but Mama was _really _mad at Daddy.

Helena noticed a sad look on her baby girls face. "What's wrong sweetie?"

"Do you and Daddy _have _to fight?" She sniffed. "I don't like it."

"We're not fighting we're just...debating." Vic cut in.

"No, we're having a disagreement." Helena frowned.

"Yes, a debate."

"No, debating is when you're debating something."

"Well what do you think arguing is?"

"Look, pal, I don't have to let you come-"

"See! You're fighting again and you're not supposed to." Bella whimpered. "Mama's and Daddy are supposed to love each other, not want to rip each others faces off."

Helena suddenly felt guilty, why did she have to say that? Six was a delicate age; kids tended to blame things on themselves and have ideas about how things should be. "We don't hate each other, baby, we just don't get along very well." Helen explained.

"Why, did I do something?" Bella whispered.

"No, I did." Vic muttered bitterly.

Helena looked up in surprise, Vic was blaming himself? It was his fault, but still...admitting that to your daughter while knowing that she could end up hating you; that made her feel a tiny bit more respectful of Vic. But only a little.

"Look, let's just get you ready to go and fight, alright?" Helen asked tiredly.

"Okay." Bella said brightening up. "I have to go wait over there, you guys are gonna sit together, right? Pretty please?"

"Well, she did say please." Vic mumbled.

"Fine, but only since you said please." Helena frowned. That stupid incident a few days ago with the dress was still in her mind, she'd been weak and she couldn't do that again.

Isabellas' entire face lit up. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Vic smiled tiredly. "You're welcome."

* * *

"So, we sit here?"

"Yep."

"Oh, are you sure?"

"Where else would you like us to sit dummy? The ceiling?"

Vic looked at her tiredly. "You're still mad at me."

"Damn straight." Helena glared.

"Why, I thought we were getting along better."

"We were, until you had to go and pull that stunt with the dress. Get it through her head Vic, you're not getting in my pants again." Helena spat taking a sip of her coffee.

"What stunt? You asked me to help you zipper it up and I did, nothing happened!"

"I'm still mad."

Vic looked at her wearily. "I know. But thank you."

"For?"

"Letting me come."

"Oh." Helena muttered. "Can I ask a question?"

"What is it?"

"Why the hell aren't you mad at me? I just yelled at you and got mad but you're thanking me for getting to come."

Vic mulled over this for a few seconds. "Because...part of me knows I deserve it. I hurt you bad and unintentionally put you in a terrible situation. And again, thank you."

"What for?"

"Bella. For having her, I mean. Most woman would have had an abortion."

"I don't know if you noticed, babe, but I'm not like most women."

"I know." He muttered looking over her body and thinking of her. "Believe me."

"As I was saying." She continued. "I wasn't going to get rid of her. I mean, I was still mad as hell at you for ditching me, but she didn't do anything wrong. I didn't want to deny her life. 'Sides, between the freaking hormones and you walking out, it was a pretty emotional time."

"I'm sorry. I-I should have been there, and if I knew I would have been but-"

"It would have been out of pity if you knew." Helen said coldly. "I don't like to be pitied, Vic."

Vic nodded slowly. "I-I see your point. But, if I knew I'd have never left. For one that would shoot my reasoning out the window..." He muttered the last part under his breath.

"What was that?" Helena asked.

"Nothing."

* * *

_Snap!_

_Thud!_

_Bang!_

Bella was enjoying this. Because, for some odd reason, fighting actually made her calm down. She figured that it must be the adrenaline putting everything in perspective, the thrill of the fight, the thud of her kicks connecting. . .

She also like to win.

But that was a bonus. Either way, Bella loved a good match. She gave a silent prayer of thanks to her mother for teaching her that one kick, she was using it to beat the snot out of her opponent.

She dodged a punch and roundhouse kicked her opponent in the gut, a loud _Thud! _echoing around the gymnasium of her school.

This guy was to easy.

_Wait a minute, Mama says don't get cocky 'cause then you'll loose. She also says spaghetti sauce is the best sauce. I wish I had some spaghetti, I'm pretty hungry now. Maybe we'll go out to eat later._

A punch to her chest knocked her out of her thoughts. "Ouch!" She cried. She fixed a death glare at her opponent and attacked him with a series of flying kicks, shouts, and punches.

No one punches a Bertinelli girl and gets away with it.

The buzzer went off and she grinned, she'd done just what Mama said she would and kicked the crap out of him. She offered the bigger boy a hand as he sat up.

"Good match." He grumbled; not very happy to have been beaten by a girl, much less one that was half his size.

"Yep." Bella lied. It had been way to easy for her taste. Mama and Daddy would be happy though, speaking of them, where were they? She scanned the bleachers looking for her parents, a pretty Italian and a redhead weren't exactly hard to find.

Her eyes roamed over the crowd and past a couple kissing looking for-Waitaminute!

Her eyes latched onto the kissing couple again, it was Mama and Daddy! _No way. . ._She thought, but it was them, happily sucking each others faces off.

Bella grinned.

* * *

Vic looked over at the match worriedly.

"Calm down Vic, yeesh, it's a sparring match, not a fight to the death."

"But look at the size of the monster she's fighting, he's twice her size!" He protested.

"Yeah but-wait, are you worried?" Helena snickered.

"Yes! Why aren't you?"

"Because I'm the one who trains her and she gets lessons from Dinah. You've seen both of us fight, Bella's got just as much talent."

"Well, maybe, but. . ."

"And...you're still worried." Helena smiled.

"Well, yes, I am. Is that so wrong?" He huffed.

"Nope, but it's pretty funny watching you get so worked up." _And kinda cute in a Baby-Daddy kind of way._

He opened his mouth to respond when Bella gave a cry of pain. "Ouch!"

"See! I told you that. . ." He trailed off watching his daughter give her opponent a glare that would have made Batman proud and begin to kick the crap out of the boy she was fighting.

"See." Helena smirked triumphantly.

"She fights just like you." Vic said suddenly. "Same glare and everything."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"It was." Vic assured her.

"Oh, look!" Helena grinned as the score number shot up. "Hah, she's killing the little twerp!"

"Helen!" He laughed.

"What, she is!" Helena smiled, glowing with pride.

"Yes, she is." Vic said with an equally proud look.

"Just give it a minute. . ." Helena murmured watching the clock. "Just...wait...and there it-SHE WON!" Helena shouted.

Vic laughed all out. "Well, you taught her after all."

Without a second thought, Helena threw her arms around his neck and shoved her mouth onto his.

For a second Vic froze before gaining control back and wrapping his arms around her, holding her close. He felt her open her mouth and slip her tongue and his, parading around in his mouth as his greeted her happily.

For a few seconds they smashed lips furiously, happily, and completely on aware of anyone else. Running their hands through each others hair furiously with small moans and panting chests.

Suddenly Helena broke off with a pop, breathing heavily and staring at him in disbelief.

"Uhhh..." Vic said intelligently as his face turned bright red.

"Um, that never happened!" Helena blurted looking slightly embarrassed.

"Uh, right." Vic agreed.

"No, seriously, that didn't." Helena glared. "I just got a little caught up in the moment, alright? Nothing happened, at all." She hissed.

"Yes ma'am." Vic said.

"Uh, let's go see Bella." Helena suggested awkwardly. "Will talk about this, uh, incident later when she's not around."

"Okay." He agreed as they headed down the steps avoiding eye contact.

_Well, _Thought Vic, _this complicates things._


	13. The Truth Comes Out

************

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

******A/N A billion thanks to everyone who's reviewed!**

* * *

The walk back to the car was awkward beyond belief.

A cheerful little girl with a smug smirk, trophy, and a motor mouth between them wasn't exactly helping. That knowing look she kept using when she looked at them didn't do much for the situation either.

Vic could still taste Helen on his lips. She tasted familiar, but different too. Sweet, but with a kick, and very, very good. He really missed kissing her. Of course, he was still trying to figure out why it had happened in the first place. Not that he didn't like it or want to do it again, but he _was _a detective after all.

He also had a bad feeling that Bella had found out something she shouldn't have judging by the way she kept staring at the two of them back and forth mischievously. He wondered what it was.

Helena, on the other hand, was furious and mortified. What had she been thinking! Honestly, kissing him? What, did he drug her cereal this morning? God, what the hell had been going through her head? What if someone had saw? What if Bella had saw? She gave a silent prayer of thanks she didn't, how was she supposed to explain that?

She shook her head, had Vic been surprised when she kissed him? Yes. Had he resisted even a tiny bit? Nope, not even a squeak. Jerk.

She shot a quick look at her Ex. He looked confused, but happy, much to her disappointment. She wanted him to look _angry_ or lustful or something, not happy and dopey.

Bella was confused. At first she'd been completely ecstatic, she beat a guy twice her size in a tournament, won a trophy, and Mama and Daddy had gotten back together so everything would be normal now and she'd finally get a little sister.

Except, other than telling her how proud they were of her, Mama and Daddy hadn't really said anything. At least, not to each other. That wasn't right, Mama and Daddy should be looking at each other funny and grinning and kissing or at least holding hands or something! But they weren't doing anything! Jeez, what had happened in the two minutes it took to get over to them?

Suddenly, a terrible thought struck her. They were fine when she wasn't around, so it must have been something _she _had done. Panicking slightly, she did a quick mental review of everything that had happened from the gym to the parking lot.

She couldn't think of anything she'd done to make them act so weird. Bella bit her lip for a moment, _So... Mama's mad at Daddy. Daddy loves Mama. Mama hates Daddy. Mama and Daddy were just kissing. Why aren't they telling me how much they love each other? They look weird, maybe I shouldn't say anything..._

"So..." Vic started awkwardly. "That was interesting."

"Did I do a good job, Daddy?"

"You did an excellent job, sweetheart."

"Mama, what do you think?"

"I think you kicked serious butt babygirl. Good job."

Bella gave up trying to talk to them. Ugh, why did adults have to be so weird? Obviously they weren't going tell her about what she really wanted to hear. Meanies.

Helena and Vic were silent. Completely quiet, and happy with it being that way. The kiss was the elephant in the room, a big, fat elephant that seemed content to stay in each others heads no matter what they had to say about it.

_So let me see if I get this straight. Santa's good even though he sneaks into your house and watches you sleep, and so's the Easter bunny. Why does Easter have a rabbit, bunnies don't lay eggs. How do bunnies have babies? Well, I mean they come from the Mama, but how do they get in there? Actually, how does any type of baby get inside it's Mama? _

"Mama, where do babies come from?" Bella asked now extremely curious.

Vic almost started choking. Where the hell did that come from?

Helena almost passed out. What went on in that little head of hers that would make her ask that? She must have gotten it form Vic. "Bella... sweetie, why would you ask that?" Helena asked carefully.

"I was thinking about the Easter bunny." Bella explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Of course she was. How the hell you make the leap from bunnies to babies was lost to Helen, but jeez, could she have picked a worse time?

Vic coughed awkwardly. "Well...after being released, the sperm-"

"VIC!" Helena exclaimed.

"What! She asked!" Vic cried defensively.

"And you told her!" Helen shrieked smacking him on the arm.

"No! You didn't let me fini-" He was cut off by another smack to his arm. "Ow!"

"Wait, I'm confused, what's a sperm?" Bella asked.

Helen groaned and glared at Vic. "I hate you."

"That's not a nice word." Bella sang from the back.

"I know." Helena growled.

"You didn't answer my question." Bella sulked.

"Magic." Vic lied.

"Oh. Is it good magic?"

"_Very _good." Helena assured her.

"Oh, okay." Bella shrugged still confused.

Helena looked over at Vic and glared.

"What?"

She smacked him on the arm harder.

* * *

"Bella, honey, go upstairs. Daddy and I need some alone time."

Bella smirked. "Oh, have all the time you two need." She giggled running upstairs.

"Do you think she. . ?"

"No, how could she." Helena reasoned before turning back to Vic.

"It does seem unlikely."

"Yeah."

An awkward silence ensured.

"So. . . how's the conspiracy?"

"Still corrupted. How's Gotham's school systems?"

"Corrupt. But the kids are good, so it's fine."

"Hurm." Vic paused, deciding how to ask this. "Ahem." He coughed. "I was wondering, if you're not too busy this weekend, if you would be so kind to come with me to dinner maybe one night this-"

"No, Vic, just, no, okay?" Helena sighed shaking her head. "No. It's not happening."

Vic fought back a cry of confusion. He'd never been the smartest man in the world when it came to understanding woman, but he was fairly sure when they grabbed your face and almost choked you with their tongues that it meant they were attracted to you. "But, why?"

"Because I'm still mad at you, and we won't work out. Again." She added.

"Why won't we? We were so good together the first time."

"Oh yeah 'cause that ended so well." Helena spat sarcastically. "Bella was the only good thing that came out of that."

"You don't really mean that." Vic said quietly staring at the ground.

"Believe me, I do." Helena assured him.

"Than why did you kiss me earlier?"

Helena felt her cheeks redden slightly. "That wasn't anything. It was like kissing my cousin."

"Your family must have been even closer than I realized." Vic said unamused.

"Shut up."

"Is that what you were making me do earlier?"

Helena pulled a knife out of her kitchen drawer. "If I wanted to shut you up I would have used something different."

"Okay, I was just kidding you know. I have a hard time understanding women."

"It shows." She muttered putting the knife back.

"Look, Helena, I made a mistake, and as much as I'd like to change it, I can't. I'm sorry, alright? For the hundredth time I'm so, so sorry. But you can't blame me for everything, you could have easily told me about Bella."

"Easily?" Helena repeated. "Easily? You'd just dumped me and said not to look for you and left me with a fucking kid to take care of! Do you know what it's like getting stares in church and knowing people think you're a whore, praying to God your baby's not going to Hell every night, trying to think of a good reason to say why Daddy isn't there to tuck her in at night?"

"Yes! No! I don't know, you never gave me the chance too!"

"You brought it on yourself!"

"Not all of it! A lot, but God you could have sent me a photo or something! You don't seriously think I'm never going to stay up at night hating myself for putting you both through this?"

"I don't know! I thought I knew, but then you just left!"

"Look, let's just calm down, alright? Bella may hear us." Vic sighed rubbing his temples. "We never used to fight like this. Actually, we barely fought at all unless we wanted make-up sex later."

"Things were different then."

"I know. I am sorry, you know."

Helena was quiet.

Vic sighed and stood up, grabbing his fedora as he headed out the door. "Good night, Helen."

Before he could leave, he heard Helen call out, "Wait, just, one second." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her one nervous tick. "...Can I just ask you one question?"

"Anything."

"Just, well." She looked at him with the saddest eyes he'd ever seen. It broke his heart a little more. "Just. . . what was Her name?"

"Whose?"

"Hers. You know, the women you left me for." Helen whispered. That, was in all honesty, what was hurting her the most. The fact that he had found someone else and dumped her like trash. She didn't even know the bitch's name, but she hated her.

"Helena. . ." Vic whispered looking at her in disbelief. "Wait, you thought I. . . No, just, no. There never was anyone else, just you, always has been, always will be."

He stared at her, shaking his head. "Helen, I would never... Don't you know that's not the type of man I am?"

"There-There wasn't another women?" Helena stuttered in disbelief. He hadn't traded her in for a new model? When Vic left she had tried to figure out where they went wrong. She knew it wasn't communication since they could talk nonstop for hours, it couldn't be the sex since it was the best either of them had ever had, and it they hadn't had any fights lately. So, she realized that, since everything was fine, Vic probably found some beautiful woman who wanted to vanquish the Illuminate and fell for her instead.

It hurt beyond belief.

"Helena, how-why would you think that?"

"What was I supposed to think?" She asked fighting back tears. Now she was more confused than ever, why had he left if there wasn't another woman?

"I-I don't know." Vic admitted. "But not that, God, never that. I-I would never do that to you, you-you have to know that."

Helena gulped back a sob of frustration. "Than why did you leave me?"

"Helena, you were-are, so... perfect. You're beautiful beyond belief, intelligent, funny, incredibly sexy, a hell of a fighter, just so. . . perfect. You-You were perfect, Helen, and I was just...me."

Helena fought back a cry. She knew Vic had never exactly been the most confident guy around, and she knew he had loved her like crazy when they were together, but she never knew he was that insecure. If any other guy had said that she wouldn't have believed him, but Vic just said it so. . . seriously. Like it was a simple fact, like the sky was blue or the grass was green. The saddest part was when she looked into his eyes, she knew he was telling the truth. Her poor babydoll had been feeling down on himself and did the only natural thing and let the thing he valued most go so he wouldn't have to ruin her too.

"I-I wasn't good enough." He continued. "You-You were like an angel to me, and I was just some crackpot who couldn't even show you his face until a month after we started dating. I mean, look at you. Men are always tripping over their feet to get a glimpse of you, you could have almost anyone you wanted."

"Oh, Vic." Helen murmured. "I could have had anyone, but I wanted you, dummy."

"But I wasn't-"

"I didn't care."

"Oh."

Helena paused before asking, "If you weren't good enough then then why do you think you're good enough now?"

"I don't. But, Helen, we have a daughter together. I finally have a reason on why I'm okay to be with you."

"You always did." Helen whispered. "I loved you, idiot. I didn't care about the other guys then."

"Look, I-I know what I did was wrong now, but I think we should give 'us' another-"

"No, Vic. I'm sorry, but I can't do that." Helena closed her eyes. "If we don't work out now, we won't be the only ones effected. Vic, we have a child together, okay? For all I know you could have another self-esteem crisis and leave again. I don't want Bella getting her hopes up."

"But, Helen..."

"I didn't say you couldn't see her anymore, just that we can't date again. Come on Vic, you honestly think we could go back to the way we were?"

"Well, almost."

Helena smiled at him sadly. "You really believe that, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Sorry, but, no. . . I can't do that to Bella."

Vic slowly nodded. "Okay, I understand. It's going to be a while until you're healed, I can wait."

"But there's nothing worth waiting for." Helena protested.

Vic looked at her oddly. "...Yes, there is. I threw us away last time, I'm not going to do that again."

"Vic, come on. . ."

He smiled bitterly. "You asked." He reminded her as he stepped out the door.

Helena sighed and sat down at her table, rubbing her temples. Damn it, she _did _ask, she just didn't think the idiot would be so persistent. She bit her lip, so Vic hadn't left her for someone else after all, he just had some confidence issues.

She sighed, not that she would tell anyone this, but that had been bugging her for years, the reason why Vic left. Idiot. Why, why, why did she have to find the one gut on Earth that didn't think he was God's gift to woman and that he wasn't actually good enough for her?

But. . .it did give her an odd feeling of closure. Finally, after almost seven years, she knew why her man left her.

She didn't know how that was supposed to make her feel.

* * *

**A/N So. . .now Helen knows why Q left. **

**A/N Read and Review**


	14. Flashbacks

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

******A/N Did I mention how much I love you guys who review? 'Cause I do:)**

* * *

Helena ran her fingers through her hair again in contemplation.

Now that she finally knew why Vic had left her she felt so...free. Like a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Except, now she had a different problem; to forgive him or not to forgive him. A part of her really wanted to, even though it would be hard to just swallow her pride and do it. After all, it wasn't like he hated her for not telling him about Bella, or that he hated her daughter which she'd always been slightly afraid of. If anything, he'd taken it completely in stride as if to say,_ Alright, I've got a kid. Better make up for lost time. _

She was grateful for that; that if he had any anger he wasn't taking it out on Bella. Or her, even.

But the other part of her wanted to just keep on being bitter and hating him. It would just be so much easier to hold on to seven years worth of hate and never forgive him. But that would be the easy thing to do and she hated taking the east way out. So she was stuck.

She remembered when Vic told her he wanted to end things in the first place. It seemed like so long ago...

**Seven Years Earlier**

_She felt absolutely terrified. That was the best way she could explain it. More scared then she had been in a long, long time. Right now all she wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed and never come out._

_Honestly,_ pregnant,_ how the hell did this even happen? Well, she knew how, but still! Oh, God, what the hell was she going to do...? She put her hands onto her flat stomach and fought back the urge to scream. Oh God, oh God, oh God, how was she supposed to take care of a baby when she already had two jobs?_

_She bit her lip, what was Vic going to say when she told him? She knew he wouldn't leave, but he still never really struck her as the father type. She knew what she wanted him to do, she wanted him to hold her tight in his arms and whisper that it was going to be okay and tell her that he loved her and their baby._

Their. Baby_. Jesus, that sounded strange, and scary. Infants were so small and fragile, so easy to break. _

_She wobbled up the stairs to their apartment as she bit her lip so hard she was afraid it would start to bleed. She wondered if it was going to be a girl or a boy, what its name would be, which one of them it would take after more. _

_"Q?" She called as she wandered into their apartment._

_"Uh, in here." He mumbled sounding strange._

_She walked into their tiny living room and absently realized they were going to need a bigger apartment soon. Or a house, or at least a condo. She looked at Vic semi-surprised after she realized he was still wearing his coat and hat, an odd expression on his face. She rubbed her arm. "Um, hey."_

_"Hello." He muttered with an odd expression. It almost looked sad, regretful, and a little guilty. _

_She was a little to distracted to notice though. "Vic, baby, we need to talk."_

_"Yes." He nodded his head slowly. "We do."_

_She decided to stall for a moment. "Oh, well what did you want to talk about?" _

_An oddly long silence. "Helena...I think, I think we should see other people." Vic stuttered._

_She felt her heart slam up her throat, her stomach feeling like someone had drove a knife through it. "Wh-What?" She choked in disbelief. He-he couldn't be serious. Not now, not when she just found out she was carrying their child. _

_"I-I think we shouldn't be together anymore." Vic explained not looking her in the eyes. "You know...for the better of things."_

_"Y-You're kidding, right? Ollie wanted to play a trick on me or something." She tried still not believing what she was hearing. No no no! God no, please! She needed him now, she needed him more than ever, he had to be lying! He couldn't be hurting her like this on purpose._

_"No, I just...think we need some time apart." _

_"W-Why?" She whispered feeling her eyes beginning to swell up with tears. "What did I do?"_

_"Nothing, believe me." Vic said quickly. _

_"Than why the hell are you doing this?" She shrieked as tears began to fall down her cheeks. No, no, no! She couldn't do this by herself, how can you raise a child without a Daddy? She felt like she was going to throw-up._

_"I just think-"_

_"DON'T ANSWER!" Helena screamed as tears slid down. "Dammit Vic, how could you do this to me!"_

_"Oh, no Helena, please don't cry!" Vic begged walking up to her to hold her tight._

_"Get the hell away from me!" She screamed smacking away his arm as she sobbed lightly. It was to much, she couldn't even look at him without feeling sick to her stomach. Oh, her poor baby...It didn't deserve to not have two parents._

_"God just leave me alone, you bastard!" She cried. Then it hit her; her baby, _her baby_, was going to be a bastard. Helena started crying harder. She took a deep breath before choking out, "Are you sure you don't want me anymore?"_

_Vic looked at her guiltily before slowly nodding his head. "Yes, I-I think it would be for your best interest."_

_Her best interest, what the hell did he know about what was best for her? Nothing, he knew nothing! "Fine, think whatever the hell you think, I don't care anymore!"_

_"Helena, please don't hate me, I just-"_

_"Shut up! Shut the hell up! Dammit Vic, how-why-are you doing this?"_

_"Helen, it's for the best-"_

_"You don't know that! What a load of shit! Come on, Vic, you-you can't be serious!"_

_It took one look at Vics' face to realize he was._

_"I just-"_

_"God, no Vic, come on you can't, dammit, you can't!" She begged trying not to cry. Her poor, poor baby._

_"You can have our apartment." He tried hoping to make her calm down._

_"I don't want it, I want you!" She cried._

_"But-but I don't think we should-"_

_"God I HATE you, you asshole! I hope you burn in hell!" She shrieked grabbing her coat and slamming the door as she stormed out of the apartment. She managed to get all the way into her car before reality hit her._

_She didn't have Vic. She didn't have a family. She didn't have anyone._

_She had to have this baby alone._

_Helena closed her eyes, leaned her forehead against the steering wheel, and cried her eyes out for three hours straight._

**Present**

At least now she understood what made him do it.

That was comforting, even though it still hurt a little. But only a little, she had finally gotten closure and the world suddenly seemed a lot nicer of a place. She didn't know if that stupid kiss had really stirred up some old feelings or if she just wanted to finally be a complete family for the sake of her precious baby girl.

She wished she could tell the difference.

* * *

Vic closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

Even though it had been hours, he could still feel the tingle of Helena on his lips. She tasted so good, so sweet and warm, God did he want to do it again.

He just didn't think he was going to get the chance to. Helena had made it abundantly clear that she didn't want to get back together, no matter how much he wanted to.

He really wanted to.

Of course, it was his fault they were in this mess. He was the one who said goodbye, even though it was because he only wanted the best for her. He had really thought he had been doing the right thing.

Except, now he realized he hadn't been, and that he had chose the worst possible time to say goodbye. He could very easily remember when he decided he needed to say goodbye. . .

**Seven years ago**

_Vic woke up with a small groan. Why did the day have to start so early anyways?_

_He felt Helena lying next to him, curled up in a ball on his chest. An odd mix of happiness and guilt flooded through him. Happiness at the realization he had a beautiful women lying next to him who he loved more than anything, and guilty because he had been thinking lately that he might not be good enough for her._

_He wished he was. Helena was his whole heart, and he only wanted the best for her. He ignored his daily guilt trip and tiredly blinked open his eyes to look at his lover._

_He felt his breath catch when he looked at her sleeping so peacefully next him in their bed. There was a beam of light coming in through the window, casting over her. He could see her long raven hair sprawled out on a pillow so dark it was almost blue, a light smile on her lips, still slightly flushed cheeks from their earlier activities with only a thin cotton sheet barely covering her._

_She was an angel._

_He was a sinner._

_He suddenly felt guilt and realization crash down on him. Helena was so perfect, and he was...so flawed. Every bad thing he had ever done shot through his mind. The time he tried to assassinate the president, all those drugs he did in college, all the whispers about him in the hallways, those men he killed in South America, he was a bad person. How could he hold Helena back? How could he be so selfish?_

_He couldn't drag her down anymore._

_He felt Helena stir next to him and put a hand on his chest. He realized he must have been trembling. "Mm, baby, what's wrong?"_

_"N-Nothing." He choked out._

_She blinked her eyes open tiredly. "Q, you're a terrible liar."_

_"Oh, s-sorry." He stammered._

_She rolled her eyes. "That's a good thing." She smiled giving his cheek a kiss._

_"Uh, I have to go." He exclaimed jumping out of their bed._

_"Jeez, already? It's not even noon yet. You don't have to record for the news 'til three." Helena frowned._

_"League business. Monitor duty." He lied. He felt as though he was going to throw-up, how could he have been holding her back for so long?_

_"Vic, baby, are you sure you're okay?" Helen asked worriedly._

_He ignored the stabbing pain in his heart. "Fine. I-I'll see you later." He muttered feeling as though he could barely breathe._

_Helen looked at him skeptically but got out of the bed and covered herself with the sheet to give him a kiss. He gave her a quick peck and quickly left the room trying to hold it together when he realized he was never going to be able to do that again._

_"Bye!" Helena called from upstairs as he left._

_"...Goodbye, Helena." He whispered quietly._

_He just wished it didn't have to be forever._

**Present**

Now he felt like an ass.

Helena had probably been scared out of her mind and when she needed him most, he wasn't there. He knew he would feel guilty about that until he died.

But she couldn't hate him as much as she pretended to, after all, he was getting to see Bella. He smiled lightly, he really loved his little girl. She was definitely Helena's daughter, same determined look and fighting skills, same raven hair. But he could see little bits of himself in her, same curiosity about everything and the need to get answers, same blue eyes.

Except the need to feel every moment of the day with talking. He didn't know where that came from.

And now he really wanted to get back with Helen more than ever, that way Bella had two parents. Something neither him or Helena ever really ever had.

Wasn't giving your child a better life than yours what you were supposed to do?

Oh, and it also meant he got to have Helena again.

That was something else he really wanted too.

* * *

Bella was simply bubbly.

That was the best way to explain it. Absolutely ecstatic. Mama and Daddy were back together! She was finally getting a sibling! They were going to live happily ever after!

She waited patiently for Mama and Daddy to tuck her in. She heard the door open and fully expected both of them there to say goodnight and tell her they were going to be together like they should be.

Except, only Mama came in the door.

Bella frowned, this wasn't right.

"What's wrong, babygirl?" Helena asked.

"Where's Daddy?"

Helena frowned slightly. "At his apartment, where else?"

"Why isn't he here?"

"Because he has his own home, pumpkin."

"Well, shouldn't he move in?"

"No, why would you say that?"

"Well, how are you two supposed to be together if you don't live with each other?"

Helena looked at her in bewilderment. "Why do you think we're back together?"

"Because you two were making-out, duh." Bella rolled her eyes.

Helena fought back a groan. Ugh, she was regretting that kiss already. Why did she have to be so stupid sometimes? "Bella, sweetie, Mama and Daddy aren't getting back together, okay?"

"What do you mean?" Bella whimpered.

Helena ignored the stabbing pain in her chest. "Honey, your Daddy and I aren't a couple anymore."

"But you were _kissing_!"

Helena flinched. "It wasn't really that much of a kiss, just a little one."

"Nu-uh!"

"Yes, it was."

"But...why?"

"Why what?"

"Why aren't you together again?"

"Because we don't have feelings for each other anymore, babygirl."

"Yes, you do."

"No, we don't."

"Well _you _might not but Daddy does. He loves you."

"How do you know that?"

"He told me."

"...He did?"

"Yep."

"Oh. Well, I guess I have to have a talk with him."

"So you can get back together?"

"No, so he'll learn to stop getting your hopes up."

"But..._why_? Did he say he was sorry?"

". . .Yes."

"Then why don't you forgive him?"

"I did."

"Then why won't you date him?"

"Because he hurt my feelings, hon. He made me really, really sad, I don't know if I want to try again."

Bella was quiet. "I think you should."

Helen smiled at her tiredly. "You do, huh?"

"Yes."

Helena laughed lightly and kissed her forehead. "It's not that simple."

"Yes it is! You adults just make everything so hard!"

"We do, huh?"

"Duh! Think about it; war, hunger, the economy, politics-"

"Ugh, you need to spend less time with Uncle Ollie. He's rubbing off you." Helen groaned.

"Well you should spend more time with Daddy."

"Where'd this smart mouth come from?"

"You."

"Probably." Helena laughed. "Good night, babygirl."

"Good night, Mama." Isabella called as her mother left the room.

She hoped Mama and Daddy would _both_ be there to tuck her in soon.

* * *

**A/N Read and Review**


	15. Just Friends

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

******A/N Reviewers, you rock my socks:)**

* * *

"So...can we get McDonald's?"

"Do you know how bad that is for you?" Helena asked as they walked down the hall.

"Yeah, but think about how good it tastes." Bella grinned.

Helena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but think about how bad you feel an hour after you eat it."

"So, Chinese is the same way." Bella pointed out.

Helen opened her mouth to respond when Bella suddenly froze. "What?" Helena asked.

"I forgot it!"

"Forgot what?"

"Something for Daddy that I left in the car! I need to go get it!"

Helena sighed. "Just be quick, okay? You pretty much invited us over here and I don't want to hang out with him too long."

"But _whyyy?_" Bella whined. "He can't be that bad; I mean you guys had me, right?"

Helenas' lips twitched into a smile. "Just go get...whatever you're getting. And lock the door when you're done!" Helena called after her daughter as she took off.

Laughing slightly, she walked towards Vics' apartment door. Still smiling, she approached the door and opened it cautiously . "Hey, Vic?" She called.

Nothing. She walked into the small apartment wondering where he was. She heard an odd noise coming through a door. Was that music? Intrigued, she wandered towards the sound and realized it was coming from his bedroom.

Helena opened the door and saw something she had so _not _expected to see again.

Vic was on his bedroom floor, shirtless and sweaty, doing push-ups to pop music. Helena didn't know whether to laugh or stare shamelessly.

"Uhhh..." She trailed off unable to come up with anything. She knew Vic worked-out (everyone in the vigilante business did) but seeing it in person was something she hadn't seen in years.

Vic suddenly realized he wasn't alone and looked up in bewilderment. "Oof!" He muttered falling to the ground after being startled out of his wits.

"W-Why are you here, you're not supposed to be here until six." He exclaimed obviously embarrassed as he got up.

"It's six-fifteen." Helena pointed out.

"Uhhh..." Vic mumbled intelligently.

Helena watched him curiously. She let her eyes roam over her Ex's body, taking in every detail. Those suits he wore as The Question hid a lot, Vic was solid muscle with soft spots she used to be very fond of.

She smirked. He looked good without his shirt on, real good. She knew she probably shouldn't have been thinking that way, but hey, she _was _a woman. Stuff like that she noticed. "Well don't act so embarrassed, it's not like we've never seen each other naked before."

Vic raised an eyebrow. "I'm not embarrassed

"Yes, you are." Helen smirked. "But you shouldn't be. Jeez, it wouldn't kill you to wear less clothing you know, actually show off that bod. I mean, you look good shirtless."

"So do you." Vic blurted out thoughtlessly. _Oh, now she's really going to kill me. _

Helena raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smirk on her face. "Really Viccy, I thought I was supposed to be the dirty one." She wondered if it was always going to be like this. Half of her wanting to rip off their clothes and staying up until morning pounding him into the mattress senselessly, and the other part of her wanting his head on a stick.

"Please don't call me Viccy." Vic frowned. He hated, _hated_, that name.

"Sure thing, Viccy." Helena smirked. "But it wouldn't kill you to be a little more subtle. Besides, I thought you wanted me back? Telling me I have nice boobs isn't helping."

"I didn't mean to say-"

"Although," Helena continued thoughtfully. "you _were _very fond of them. I remember you used to stay up all night playing with them and tasting them and kissing them..."

Vic gulped quietly, desperately trying not to think about that and attempting not to sweat while thanking God he was wearing loose pants. It wasn't fair, why couldn't men hide their arousal like women could?

Helena grinned evilly, completely aware of what she was doing to him. "Besides, it's not like you to make a comment about how awesome you think my chest is. I thought you were more into complimenting my legs."

He glanced at her legs, hidden by the denim jeans she was wearing. Shame. "They're very nice legs." He offered.

Helena batted her eyelashes at him. "That so?"

"Yes." Lord, how he wanted her right now!

She licked her lips sensually before smacking them together. "What about my lips? I thought you like them too."

"I do." He said quickly. "Very much."

Helena smiled. "Aw, that photographic memory isn't helping this, isn't it?"

Vic looked at her smirking and leaning against his desk. He had taken her on that desk a few years ago. It had been the perfect height to thrust in and out of her as she moaned and shuddered. "No...It isn't."

She looked at him mischievously. "Oh, darn. Well, at least you'll always have your memories." She sighed sitting on his bed and crossing her legs, looking at him flirtatiously.

"Tru-Wait a minute...You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"Doing what?" She asked innocently.

"Messing with me and making me...excited."

She grinned. "What, can't I have a little fun while I'm here?"

"Helena..." He groaned.

"Alright, I'll stop." She laughed jumping off the bed.

Vic wondered where her good mood had came from. "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to, uh, change I guess."

"Fine." She shrugged walking out of the room. She stopped a few inches before he was out of view, watching him put on his shirt and a new pair of pants.

Hey, she didn't have a photographic memory. And if he had dirty images of her, why couldn't she have the same?

Bella suddenly ran into the room breathlessly. "Mama, where's Daddy?"

"Right here." Vic called walking into the room.

Helena found herself a tiny bit disappointed he was wearing a shirt again.

"Daddy!" Called Bella dragging him into his living room. "Look what I got you!"

Vic looked at the stack of newspapers. "...Thank you?"

"Well, you like newspapers, right? And you like to glue them together and put them on your board thingy with Scooby-Doo and the Girl Scouts. So I thought you might need some more." She explained handing them to him.

He glanced at Helena to see if she had put her up to this. Judging by the way she was trying not to laugh, he had to admit it was very unlikely.

"Do you like it?" Bella asked worriedly.

"Yes, uh, thank you." Vic said as he put down the stack of newspapers on a chair.

The three looked at each other expectantly.

"So...Now what?" Vic asked.

"We could, like, eat." Bella suggested.

"Yeah, let's do that." Helena agreed.

* * *

A few hours later Bella was passed out asleep on a chair.

"So, that was...nice." Vic commented.

Helena stretched her arms out on the couch before answering him. "Yes, it was."

Vic paused, trying to decide how to phrase this. "Why aren't you acting like you want to personally neuter me with your crossbow?"

Helens' lips twitched into a grin. "You know, that's not a bad idea..."

"I'm serious. You've been very...upset with me for the past three weeks, but right now you seem so..."

"Non-neutering?"

"That's what I mean. You're almost acting like-..." He suddenly stopped, not wanting to say it.

"Like what?" Helena asked.

"Like...you used to act with me." He finished quietly. "You're acting like I'm an actual person again."

"You _are _an actual person, dummy." She stalled.

"You're stalling."

_Damn. Why does he have to know me so well? _"So what if I am?"

"Helena..."

For a moment she was silent. "I've been doing a lot of thinking." She said quietly. "I grew up without two parents, and I don't want Bella do go through that. I mean, it's different, but at the same time it isn't. I was with my family, you know, and it didn't feel like it was complete. And Bella has me, but that's not a complete family."

She paused before continuing. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that you _are _her family too. I mean, not all of it, but a big part of it, you know? And it isn't good for a little girl to watch her parents argue all the time. I mean, was I mad at you? Hell yeah. But did I have to show it in front of Bella; not so much. I might not like you, but I don't _hate _you-"

"You don't?" Vic exclaimed in surprise.

"Look, I know what hate is. I hated Mandragora, I still do, but not as intensely. Hate is when all you can think about is revenge and getting even, getting justice. You want that person to suffer, to rot, to burn in Hell. You despise them, their family, and anyone they know. And if an opportunity opens, you kill them without a second thought. I don't like you anymore, but I don't hate you."

Vic let her words sink in. "You never answered my question, why are you being nice to me? Bella's asleep, you can stop pretending."

"How do you know I'm pretending?"

Vic stared at her, noting the serious expression on her face.

"Look, I've spent almost all of my life being sad and angry and hurt and a bunch of other fun little emotions, and I don't like it. I don't want hate to be the only real emotion in my life, I mean look, I have a little girl. _We_ have a little girl. I don't want her to be like that. I don't want her to feel hate and hurt like I do." She whispered staring at Bella.

Vic watched the most important woman in his life stare at the most important child. "You shouldn't think like that." He said softly. "You're so much more than that. You're not half as bad as you think, I mean you let Mandragora live, did you not?"

"Only because his kid was there." Helena said softly.

"It's not just that, you said it yourself; that wasn't what you really wanted. You're better than that, a lot better."

Helena grinned slightly. "I'm getting self-esteem lessons from you? Lord help me, I've hit a new low."

Vic frowned. "You're not the only one who made some mistakes. I shouldn't have did what I did."

"No, you shouldn't have." Helena agreed quietly. "You hurt me really bad."

"I know." Vic whispered. "And I'm sorry, Helena, I really, really am."

"I know. That's why I'm forgiving you. Mostly." She added.

"You're forgiving me?" Vic said in disbelief. Was she under mind control?

"Mostly. I mean, most guys would have been mad at me or Bella, but you aren't. Most guys wouldn't want anything to do with her, but you're pushing for extra time with her, which can get a little annoying but that's off topic. The point is, I understand what you did and why you did it. I might not agree with it, but I get it. And that's why I can forgive you, mainly."

"Mainly?"

"Yeah, like as friends. I mean just because I forgive you doesn't mean I want you sleeping in my bed again, but I do want us to at least be friends." _Damn, that sounded lame._

"That sounds wonderful." Vic said surprising her. She was expecting him to beg a little bit for one more awesome night together.

"Yes, we both made mistakes. I mean, I made the bigger one but I really want to fix it." Vic explained.

"I know." After a moment she added, "Do you forgive me?"

"For what?"

"Not telling you about Bella."

"I can't."

"And why the hell not?" She exclaimed. After all she just said if he didn't say the same then he was never going to be able to have sex again.

"Because I was never upset with you. I know why you did it." He shrugged.

"Oh." She mumbled feeling a little bitchy. Oh well, at least it wasn't way bitchy.

"So," She said after a moment. "Friends? Not with benefits, but just friends?"

Vic stared at her for a moment. "Friends." He agreed.

"What's happening?" Bella mumbled blinking her eyes as she woke up.

Helena glanced at her watch before cursing quietly. "Shit, it's way past her bedtime. We gotta go." She explained as she jumped off of the couch and pulled her half-asleep daughter out of the apartment with by her hand.

"Bye Vic!" She called.

"Bye!" He called back.

He was happy that this time it wasn't permanent.

* * *

**A/N So some, uh, interesting things are going to happen next chapter:)**

**A/N Read and Review pretty please!**


	16. Who Would've Thought?

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

******A/N Thanks for the great reviews!**

* * *

It had been five months since Helena had talked to Vic about forgiveness.

It had also been six and a half months since Question learned he had a daughter. Things had gotten a lot better since their talk. It didn't bother Helena so much when Vic hung around her house or spent time with Bella, as long as he didn't bug her for a date, which he rarely did.

She was glad she forgave him. It made things a lot easier, especially for Bella. She didn't want her baby too grow-up without a Daddy like she did, or have a dysfunctional family.

Well, more dysfunctional.

Helena winced as she heard a clap of thunder from the storm outside her apartment. Thank God she remembered to close her car windows.

She popped open the microwave and slid a frozen dinner in. Bella was sleeping over at a friends house, so she didn't have to cook tonight.

Helen frowned. Her baby was getting older whether she liked it or not, and in a few short years she would be all grown-up. True, Isabella was only six, but those six years had flown by.

What the hell was she supposed to do when her baby left her nest permanently? When you're young and alone, it's great. You meet people, have awesome times, and look forward to retiring in a thousand years and growing old with someone special.

But what were you supposed to do when you were old and alone? Sure, old people probably dated, but they must have been so lonely.

Thank God she was only thirty-two. But still, it wasn't like she was going to have any other kids, and eventually she'd have to retire as Huntress.

What was she supposed to do then?

She sighed and shook her head; ugh, her daughter leaves for one night and she was already whining about being alone forever. She was _so _not going soft, right?

She decided not to think about it.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door.

Wondering who the hell would be dumb enough to come here in a freak'n storm, she glided through her kitchen and opened the door to reveal...

...A dripping wet Vic holding his coat tightly.

Helena smiled, but it quickly turned into a frown. "What the hell are you doing here when it's pouring buckets out there?"

Vic frowned. "I thought I was supposed to pick up Bella on Saturdays."

"It's Friday."

She smirked as he grew embarrassed. "Oh, well I guess I'll just, uh, drive home."

"You drove here?" She exclaimed.

He nodded bashfully.

"Ugh, get in here." She sighed pulling him into her home. "And take off your coat and jacket before you catch a cold."

"Yes ma'am." He said obediently, doing as she asked.

"Are you cold?"

"What?"

"You just came out of the pouring rain and it's like thirty degrees out there, are you cold?" She repeated.

"Well, I suppose a little bit-"

She put her hand on his forehead, "You're freezing! Sit down and eat something right now, Mister."

"May I ask why?"

"I don't want you getting sick, okay? Because if you get sick then not only am I going to be stuck taking care of you, but with my luck I'll get sick and so will Bella. Then we'll all be screwed."

"Alright then." Vic sighed in defeat. Helena had very protective instincts so he figured it would be best to just leave her be. "Where's Bella?"

"At some kids house, she's spending the night."

"Who's house?" He asked sounding suspicious.

"Uh, Tiffany's, I think."

"You think?"

"I know, okay. Yeesh, calm down, I know Tiffany's family because I taught three of her older siblings and from the PTA, okay? No need to go all paranoid and go through their trash."

"Are you sure?"

"Vic..." She growled.

"Um, what are you mak-asking-me to eat?" He asked changing the subject.

"Frozen fish and-Shit!" She swore looking at her microwave. "I was so busy talking to you I let the freaking thing burn!"

"I'm sorry?" He asked, unsure if he should apologize.

"Whatever." Helena crossed her arms and stared at him expectantly. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well now what do you want to do? I already torched the food so we can't eat."

"Oh, um I suppose we could, uh, watch TV?"

"Fine." She shrugged gesturing for him to join her in the living room.

A few minutes later they were on her couch watching an episode of Law and Order.

"She did it." Vic said pointing to the blond.

"What, did you see this episode already?" Helena asked in surprise. "I thought it was new."

"It is, but look at how she's acting. She did it." He explained.

"Vic, she's an actor. None of this is real." Helena sighed.

"Actually I've been doing some research-"

"Q."

"Sorry."

After a moment, she noticed a small smile on his face. "What?"

"You called me Q."

"And that's so strange because. . .?"

"We've been 'okay' for seven months, but you've just called me Vic."

"And this is funny, why?"

"I don't know, it just is."

"Okaaaay." _Silence_. "It really has been five months, hasn't it?"

"Yes." Vic said quietly.

Helena bit her lip. "What were you-I mean how did you-...What did you do when you found out about Bella?"

"Oh. Well, at first I wanted to know who the father was, and when I realized it was me, well, I was shocked. I mean, I thought you would have told me something as important as our child but...I hurt you. And you were never big on forgiveness."

She let his words sink in. "I'm not that big on not forgiving, either."

"I know, I mean, you're letting me see Bella."

"Well duh, you're kind of her father, Sherlock."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"Helena..."

"Yeah, Q?"

"How big are you on second chances?"

She looked at him sitting very close next to her on her small couch, eyes half closed and staring at her intently. "Not very." She said quietly.

"Do you make exceptions?" He asked moving his face forward a little bit.

Helena did the same. "It depends."

"Meaning?" He whispered.

"On the person. What they did. What they meant to me."

"Oh." He muttered, their faces inches apart. "Am I an exception?"

"Maybe." She whispered moving closer to him. They were practically kissing. "But I need some convincing."

"Oh." He whispered back. "I can do that." And without a word Vic kissed her.

Helena heard Vic whisper that and kissed him.

It was a slow, uncertain kiss at first. It was asking for permission, to make sure it was welcomed.

He felt Helena open her mouth and greet him warmly, which he took as a yes.

Helena got on top of him slightly, pushing him down on the couch. He felt so good. This felt so right.

Vic wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer and pressing his body on hers. She felt so good.

For a few minutes, the room was silent except for the occasional moan and slight panting as they kissed with growing hunger and passion. Helena smiled, he tasted yummy.

Vic groaned. She tasted so good, like the sweetest wine and any other good thing he could imagine. How the hell had he ever let her go? This was amazing.

Helen felt Vic tug her shirt. "Upstairs." She whispered, breathing hard. "Don't want to get caught."

Vic nodded, keeping her close as they got off the couch and moved towards the bedroom still kissing furiously.

Q lifted her in his arms as they stumbled in her room untangling their tongues only to lie her down on the bed. He rolled on top of her, shifting his kisses from her mouth to down her cheek and jaw.

Helen wrapped her arms around him with a moan after his shirt fell off. God, did he feel good. She knew what she wanted. She wanted to get naked and get naked now! To spend the night exploring each others bodies, to see if he still had it in him to make her shake and scream in utter pleasure. She wanted him naked and back where he belonged; between her legs. But...

"V-Vic." She whimpered.

"Mm?" He mumbled beginning to kiss past her neck as he unbuttoned her blouse.

"W-Wait."

Instantly all motions were ceased. Vic got on his hands and knees above her, "W-What?" He panted.

"Wait." She repeated.

"But you just said you wanted another try." He frowned, was she just toying with him?

"I-I do, it's just..." She sighed and put a hand on his face. "It's not just us anymore, babe. If something happens and we don't work out, we have a little girl who's gonna be crushed."

"So...you don't want to try again?" He sighed. He was never getting a second chance.

"No, I do, but I don't think we should have sex the second we think we should try again. I mean, we should see how it goes first, you know?"

"So you want to date, but were not going to have intercourse?" Vic frowned trying to understand it. Helena not wanting to have sex wasn't something he was used to.

"Um, no, at least not at first. I mean we should go on a few dates first, you know?"

"Oh, alright. But we are going to try again?"

"Yeah, but were not going to do anything for say, five dates. Deal?"

"That sounds great." He enthused.

Helena nodded. Okay, so this wasn't just about sex for him, good.

"So...Now what?" Vic asked.

"I don't know, you want to, um, sleep together?"

Vic raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean." She scowled. Helenas' eyes drifted down to his waist, looking at the very impressive bulge in his pants. "Uh, you think you can do this? You seem pretty...energetic right now."

Vic turned bright red. "Uh, it'll go away in a few minutes." He muttered looking down.

Helena laughed and lifted up her sheet. "Get in, dummy."

Vic complied and got under the sheets. For a second, it was awkward and neither of them really knew how they were supposed to do this. "You can hold me if you like." Helena offered.

Vic smiled lightly and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him. She smiled and placed a hand on his bare chest, snuggling against him. For a few seconds they were quiet. "Is it okay if I kiss you?" Vic asked suddenly.

For a second Helena was silent. "Yes."

"Okay." Vic murmured bending down and giving her cheek a soft kiss. She smiled before laughing softly.

"What?" Vic murmured.

"Nothing, it's just...if someone had told me a year ago that right now you would know about Bella and be fine about it, that you were trying really hard to be a good dad, and that we were in bed together right now I would have probably punched them in the face. But I mean look, here we are."

Q chuckled and held her tighter. "Funny how things work."

"...Do you think we're going to work?"

"Yes." He said instantly.

Helena smiled. "I knew you'd say that. 'Night Vic."

"Good night, Helena." He murmured giving her cheek another kiss.

They slept.

* * *

"Hey Tony, you get any word from the boss yet?"

"If I did, don't you think I'd have told you, Cecil!"

"Sorry Tony."

"Think Cecil, think! The boss wants us to bust him out soon, and we'll never get to unless you start to think!"

"Yes, Tony."

"Now do you got the devices in place?"

"Yeah, the apartments bugged so when Mandragora gets out he'll know where to look."

"Good job, Cecil."

"I try, Tony."

* * *

**A/N Why do I get the feeling most of you are super happy and confused right now?**

**A/N Review please!**


	17. Perverted Minds Don't Go With 6 YearOlds

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**butterflyV- Yeah, the Tony and Cecil thing will make sense in the next few chapters, I promise. And thank you for all the great feedback you've given me, a little bit of criticism about what H and Q did sometimes was way helpful. You actually helped write a few scenes:) Thanks!**

**shesXsuperXfreaky- Yep, I knew they were going to be back together, but it had to take a while. Hope it was worth it:D**

**KaliAnn- That's a very good summary for the chapter:) Yep, so Tony and Cecil will be making things more complicated but I think I'll give H and Q a little break before the drama really heats up again.**

**Idk- Mostly because this is rated T, LOL. But there will probably be a smut scene, just not very soon or a very graphic one, thanks!**

**JLluvr- Yeah, it was pretty confusing. I mean a few people know who I was talking about, but not everyone. Thanks for reviewing!**

**ChristinaWasHere- LOL, and sorry about that but it'll make sense later I promise. Glad you're happy, though:)**

**valevilandra- Yep, we needed more fluff with this story:) And the confusion, it'll all make sense soon, I promise!**

**Guest- You kidding, she'll be at least ninety when she's done, LOL. He-he, oh there are definitely more interesting things they could do than watch TV, but this IS rated T so I gotta tone the smut down a tad:( Ha, if they keep it up Bella will have a new sibling, maybe leaving them alone in bed wasn't so good, who knows what they'll do when I'm not writing this? Thanks for reviewing!**

**JezCul4646- Yay, I made people happy, LOL. Thanks!**

**Cooper101- Yeah, but it'll all make sense in the next few chapters, I promise.**

**Knight Watcher- Yep, the past just keeps coming back and biting them in the butt. But for now they get a break:)**

**GlassBirdNoir- Thanks, and I couldn't have Helena just jump back in the sack with him two seconds later, it just would be too OOC. Thanks for the Bella compliments, I try to write her as realistic as possible but not boringly so, OCs' are hard! Oh, what's a Mary-Sue, I kind of know, but I'm not totally sure:)**

* * *

Helena woke up feeling a warm body next to hers.

_Who the hell..? Oh yeah._ She thought groggily as she began to wake up. She tiredly blinked her eyes and looked up at Vic. "Hey, you awake?" She yawned.

No response. "Vic?"

"Q?" Nada.

"Vic!" She snapped smacking him on the chest. She heard him grunt a noncommittal reply before turning over and wrapping an arm around her waist.

"What?" He mumbled into her hair.

"Get up, dummy!" She laughed.

"Why?" He yawned. "You're very comfortable."

"Glad you think so." She smirked. "Now come on."

"But I'm already up." He protested.

"Oh, yeah. Up and in bed. Don't you know that's a crime in some countries?"

"Thank God for America." He mumbled giving her neck a light kiss and pulling her close. "Why do you want to get up so bad anyways? Is being in bed with me so terrible?"

"Actually, it's the opposite." Helena admitted. "Which is why we need to get up. Because, let's face it; if we start kissing and laughing and touching alone in bed together somehow our clothes are gonna fall off and we're going to end up giving Bella that sibling she's always begging for. Besides, we agreed; no sex until the fifth date."

"So I suppose taking a shower together to get washed up is out of the question?"

"No dip, Sherlock."

"Just checking." He shrugged getting up. "Do you want to make something or just have cereal for breakfast?" He asked walking down the stairs.

"Uh, just coffee, I guess." Helena shouted following him down the stairs and into her kitchen.

"Okay." Q agreed beginning to make a pot. Helena looked at his wrinkled cloths, messed up hair, and sleepy face and smiled.

"What?" Vic asked wondering what was so funny.

"Just...I don't know. I never thought I'd see you in my kitchen making coffee after sleeping in my bed again." She explained.

"Me either." Vic admitted. "But I'm not complaining."

"Q, if we're going to try again then there are conditions."

Question thought about it for a few moments. "Such as?"

"Well, like I said before; No sex 'til the fifth date."

"Sounds reasonable." Vic nodded. "What else?"

"I don't want to tell Bella yet." Seeing his questioning gaze she explained, "It's just, I want to see of we can make it to five dates first and if we're really going to work out this time. After the fifth date, _if_ we make it that far, we'll tell her."

"_When _we make it, we'll tell her." He agreed. "Go on."

"I don't really want Dinah to know either. I just don't think she'll understand until we give her some proof that we're good together. She didn't exactly think we were good for each other the first time, you know."

"Also understandable. Continue."

"I want you hanging around the house and spending time with Bella _and _me, okay? Not like just us hanging out but her too."

"Absolutely. Anything else?"

"Yeah, when you do spend the night for real try not to act to weird. Bella's smart and I don't want her to have nightmares about us in bed while we're...wrestling."

He snorted. "Alright. So..." He trailed off looking around the kitchen. "Are we still allowed to kiss?"

"Mm-Hm." She smiled.

"And...touch each other?"

"Depends on where you're touching." Helena smirked.

"Are we allowed to hold hands?"

Helena burst out laughing. "So, what, after you've made out with me and felt me up you want to hold my hand?"

"Well, I thought it was worth asking." He huffed defensively.

"Sorry." She laughed not remotely sorry. "But, yes, if it makes you happy we can hold hands and cuddle, you big baby."

"As long as I'm _your_ baby." He conceded pulling her into his arms and kissing her.

"Yeah." She agreed snuggling into his arms.

"So we're not telling anyone?"

"No." Helena said thoughtfully. "Not yet. Is that okay?"

"I suppose."

"You sound so happy."

"I am, believe me." Vic assured her.

Helena looked up at him and smiled.

"I know."

* * *

"So why are both of you here again?"

"I, uh, spent the night." Vic explained.

Bella looked at them in surprise. "You had a sleepover?"

"Basically." Helena shrugged. "Except Daddy slept on the couch."

"Did you sleep with him?"

Helena ignored the first thought that popped into her head. Stupid perverted mind. "No, I slept in my room."

Bella thought about this for a few seconds. "Well that doesn't sound like a very fun sleepover. Did you even have a pillow fight?"

"No." Vic said quickly. "Besides, I don't think I stand a chance in a fight with your mother. Even if it is only with pillows."

"Got that right." Helena laughed.

"Did you play any games?"

"No!" Helena said quickly. _Oh, wait, she's six and talking to her parents. She means board games, not the games Vic and I used to play when we had 'sleepovers'._

Q looked at his watch and announced, "I have to go to work."

"Bye Daddy!" Bella said sweetly giving him a hug before running off.

Helena pulled him forward by the tie and kissed him, smirking when she saw the goofy look on his face. "So, see you later?"

"Definitely." Vic said quickly. "But I can't believe we've gotten away with this so far."

"Hate to break it to you babe, but we haven't even started yet." She sighed. "But if she does find out, you know I'm going to say you seduced poor little me and I fell helplessly against whatever little common sense I have."

Question laughed. "Fine, but only if I get to say that we _did _have a pillow fight."

"Perv." Helena teased giving him a quick kiss.

"Love you too." Vic snorted.

"Now out! Dinah's gonna be here soon." Helen laughed patting his butt and pushing him out the door.

"I thought you said we weren't going to touch each other." Vic smirked.

"Did I?" Helena asked innocently.

"Do I get to touch you?"

"Maybe." Helena said coyly. "Depends on what you get me for dinner."

"Why Ms. Bertinelli, is that a bribe?" Vic asked in mock horror.

"Nah, but it is a promise." She smirked giving him one last kiss. "Later babe."

"Bye!" He called.

Helena walked into the living room still laughing.

"Mama, why are you so happy?" Bella asked in bewilderment.

"What, I'm not entitled to be in a good mood?"

"No, but you're usually kind of grumpy in the morning and when you're around Daddy. I mean, the two together should make you really mad but you're happy which is weird, but nice. Hey, if Daddy slept on the couch then why aren't there any blankets and why's it so cold? Shouldn't there be, like, a dent or something in it?"

"Um, I made him put the blankets away." Helena said quickly. _Damn, she gets that sleuth stuff from Vic, not me, thank God._

A blue beam appeared in the living room. "Hey, what are you all doing?" Dinah asked. "Are you ready for practice?"

"Yep." Helen said cheerfully.

Dinah cocked an eyebrow, "You're in a good mood today."

"That's because her and Daddy had a sleepover." Bella smiled, oblivious to what she'd just implied.

Dinahs' eyebrows went up so high they touched her hair. "What?"

"Bella!" Helena exclaimed.

"What? That's what happened, right? You and Daddy slept together which is why you're so happy."

"Go to your room for a few minutes!" Helen yelped, horrified.

"Okay!" Isabella exclaimed in bewilderment, oblivious to what she'd done.

"So..." Helen started turning back to Dinah. "How was your night?"

"Well obviously not as great as yours!" Dinah snapped. "What the hell Helena, you're taking him back!"

"It's not like that!" Helen protested. "He came over because he got the day screwed up and couldn't go home since it was raining cats and dogs, so I let him sleep with me."

"So, what, if the Joker comes to you soaked and cold you'll spread your legs for him, too?"

"No! I meant that I let him sleep at my house! It just came out wrong! And shut up, _mom_, just because you're older doesn't mean you can tell me what to do!"

"So you _did _sleep with him?" Dinah exclaimed.

"He slept on my freaking couch, calm down." Helen sighed.

"Helena, listen, I'm your friend, okay? I want to protect you and look out for you, and I don't want you to get hurt again." Dinah explained.

"I know." Helena muttered. "But I'm a big girl, I make my own decisions. And no, we haven't had sex in, like, seven years, so relax."

"I'm sorry, I just don't like him that much." Dinah explained.

"I know, but try to get along, please?" Helena pleaded. "For Bella?"

"I'll try." Dinah sighed. "But only for Bella."

"That's all I ask." Helen grinned. "And if I do take him back, don't yell at me. Ollie's gotten way more second chances than he deserves and he hurt you really bad to all those times."

"It wasn't _that _many." Dinah corrected. "But he deserved it. I love him and he loves me, even if he's an idiot most of the time."

"Whatever floats your boat, Blondie."

". . .He did cheat a lot, didn't he?" Dinah said after a few minutes.

"Yeah, he's probably got a few more illegitimate kiddies running around somewhere." Helen shrugged.

"Shut up." Dinah frowned. "Ollie doesn't want kids."

"That doesn't mean he doesn't have any." Helena said cheerfully.

Dinah glared at her.

"What?"

* * *

**A/N Review please!**


	18. An Eye For An Eye

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**************Thank you so much for the great reviews! Feel free to keep them coming!**

* * *

Bellas' eyes darted back and forth between her parents.

Something was up. She didn't know what it was, but something was going on. She bet it was pretty important, too.

If only she knew what it was.

Bella was not deaf. She was not blind. And she certainly wasn't dumb. She could tell _something _was up, but she had no clue what it was.

It was annoying as hell.

She could see Mama and Daddy look at each other a little to long and stand a little too close. Bella saw them share a smile between the two of them like there was this great big secret and apparently she didn't get to know about it.

Meanies.

"What's wrong, babygirl?" Helen asked noticing her daughter being oddly quiet.

"Nothing." Bella lied staring at them intently as if all the sudden the answer would come to her. "At least, nothing I know about."

"Okaaaay." Helena said trying not to over think the note of accusation in her voice. "Are you sure?"

"Nope."

"Uh..." Helen shot a look at Vic who seemed just as perplexed as she was.

"Huh, I gotta go." Bella announced gesturing to her school. "See ya' later!"

"Love you!" Helen called.

"Okay!" Her daughter shouted back.

Huntress rolled her eyes and turned to Q, a hand on her hip. "Did you see that?"

"Yes. Those boys are wearing shoes that haven't been de-agletized." He responded.

"Remind me again what I see in you."

"I have no idea." He admitted.

She laughed and pulled his face in with her hands for a quick kiss. "Mm, I think she's on to us, babe."

"How do you think she figured it out?"

"Well she didn't get it from me, if that's what you're implying." Helen said politely.

Vic chuckled, taking her hand in his and holding it tightly. "How long do you think until we're busted?"

"Too soon." Helen laughed beginning to walk with him down the street.

"I don't understand." Vic said after a minute. "Why don't you teach at the school she goes too?"

"I did, a few years back." Helen explained. "But then I got fired for 'excessive tardiness'. Ugh, I swear I have to have the one job where you save people and then get in trouble for it."

"Why don't you just quit if you hate it so much?"

"I don't hate it, I love it. Both of my jobs I love, even though they're so different it's a little sickening."

"Hurm. Why?" Vic asked as they sat down at the small table.

"Why what?"

"Why do you like both of your jobs if they're so different?"

"I think it's _because _they're so different." Helen said slowly. "I need one because I have the other. I need to be the Huntress because it's...me. I _am _violent and deadly. I _like _hurting the bastards who hurt innocent people. An eye for an eye, you know? But it's different teaching kids, it's like a reminder that there's still some good and innocence left in the world. Even if it goes away the second puberty kicks in." She added.

Vic digested her words slowly. "So you're one because of the other?"

"Yeah, as confusing as that sounds." She bit her lip in thought. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What about your hair? What do you think, dummy? Why are you The Question?"

"Oh." He paused to think about it. "It lets me get away with the things I can't do as, well, me. I can do it anonymously"

"And the whole reporter-thing as your career...?"

Vic shrugged. "It was a job offer and I was broke with no place to say. Besides, when I'm on television people actually give a damn about what I say." He added a bit bitterly.

"Huh."

For a few minutes there was silence as the two thought about the paths they'd chosen. Vic watched a family of four with two small children crying out of the corner of his eye.

Helena noticed what he was staring at. "Just be glad you missed the terrible two's."

"The what?"

"The terrible two's, AKA the toddler years." She sighed. "It's almost worse than having a teenager."

"What do you mean?"

"It's when kids realize they have a mouth and start throwing fits at every minute of the day." She explained. "But then it gets a little better, then worse, then bad again, and after that you have the teen years which are a HUGE pain in the ass, and then you're done."

"Oh." Said Q. "Is that all?"

"Well, the very beginning is great. They can't talk or complain, but there's a lot of crying so it's kind if a win-loose situation."

"Ah. What-What was it like when she was younger?" Vic asked suddenly.

"You mean, like, when she was a baby?"

"Yes."

"She was small." Helen said softly. "And very, very cute, but also...scary. I mean, I'd never had a kid before and all the sudden I had this tiny little girl that couldn't do anything at all and was completely dependent on me. It was scary, I mean she couldn't feed herself or take care of herself or walk or...anything. Well, she could cry, but that didn't do a lot except haul me out of bed at 3 AM. Babies are so...fragile. If you drop them, you're both done, and I didn't have anyone to help me."

"Oh." He said quietly.

She noticed the guilt-ridden look on his face. "Well, that's not completely true. I mean, I had Dinah and Ollie who helped out, and Oracle and even Shayera never minded having to babysit, thank God, but..."

"It wasn't the same." Vic finished.

"No." She said softly. "It wasn't."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there." Vic apologized sadly.

"Well, just be happy you weren't there when I was in labor." Helen grinned. "I was swearing my mouth off and damning you to Hell. If you were there, I'd have broken your dick in half and sliced off your balls for putting me through that shit. Labor's a bitch."

Q flinched at the phantom sensation. "...Maybe it worked out for the best."

"Probably." Helena agreed. "I'm very glad I didn't break your dick in half, sex would have been very unpleasant."

"Uh, yeah." Vic agreed giving her an uneasy grin. He was beginning to fear for his genitals.

"It's a very nice dick." She offered noticing his bewildered expression. "It's one of the things I loved most about you."

"...Thank you." _I think._

She snorted. "Hey, you were going gaga over my boobs the other day. It's only fair I get to fantasize about you naked, too."

"I don't fantasize about you naked." He said quickly.

"So, what, I'm dressed as a Catholic school girl?" She asked innocently.

"No, unfortunately that looses all sex appeal when you have a daughter who's actually in Catholic school." He frowned.

"_All _sex appeal?" Helena probed.

"Well, mostly." He admitted.

Helena smiled. "Good, keep thinking dirty things about me and if you're good you get to do them after a few dates. But don't act so guilty; Bella's going to figure out you're easy to guilt into things and I'm going to come home in a few days with a freaking puppy in my apartment."

His lips twitched into a smile. "That's crazy, do you know what they put in dog collars?"

"A kitten, then."

"Do you have any clue what's in kitty litter?"

"You know for a guy called The Question, you have a lot of answers."

"I try." Vic smiled tipping his hat to her.

"No, but seriously, don't act so guilty and say that I'm perfect." Helen frowned. "Because, I hate to break it to you, but I'm not."

"No, you don't understand." Vic said shaking his head. "I mean you're perfect to _me_. I'm not blind or stupid, I know you have faults. You swear like a drunken sailor when you get hurt, you tend to maim people when you fight them, you hog the sheets, and you can be very moody."

"And we went from saying how great I was to how much help I need, how?"

"Let me finish." Vic continued. "But you're also intelligent, beautiful, funny, the greatest sparring partner I've ever had, sweet when you want to be, you have a heart of gold when it comes to children, you gave me a child, you're the sexiest living thing I've ever seen-"

"I like this list better." Helen cut in. _I will not blush!_

"you don't give a damn about what others think, you sing in the shower, you deny it every time you blush around me, you're not afraid to stand up for what you believe in, and you don't take anybody's crap. And, well, you loved me. I'm a crackpot who's broke and a laughing stock to his colleagues, but you still gave me a chance. How could I not think you're perfect?"

"Oh." Helena murmured looking away and brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. "If you keep sweet-talking me like that I'm going to end up jumping you on this table."

"Uh..." He was speechless.

"Close your mouth, Hon. Flies will get in." She smiled using her hand to lift his jaw back up.

"And I think you're pretty great too."

* * *

"So, did ya' get the goods?"

"Oh, I got them."

"Fools! I call you here after ten years of rotting in prison and you say nothing!" Mandragora spat.

"Sorry." Whimpered Cecil.

"Do you know why I called you here?" He continued.

"Because-"

"That was rhetorical. I called you here because I plan on finishing my assassination of the Bertinelli family! For ten years I rotted in that cell because of the Huntress and her face-less fool, plotting my revenge on the three of them. But do you what a simple search revealed?"

Mandragora grinned. "The Huntress _is _Helena Bertinelli herself, and that idiot detective is her no-name boyfriend, why I do not know. So my three least favorite people are now two. And you know what else?"

"No."

"As it so happens they were lovers in and out of costume. And do you know what lovers do?"

"Ah, love?"

"Imbecile! Do you have the photo I asked you for?"

"Ya' right here boss." Tony said sliding him the photo.

Mandragora turned it over, examining the girl in it. She was sitting down, hands folded on her lap, her school dress unwrinkled, raven hair tumbling to her waist with big blue eyes alert and a smile on her face.

"Hey boss, Edgar looks great!" Tony enthused, "But I ain't sure he's a he."

"Moron, that is not my Edgar! Lovers have children, this is their CHILD!" He roared. "And I shall take her away from them like Edgar was taken from me!"

And with that statement he took a butcher knife and stabbed the photo into the table. "_Permanently!" _With a merciless laugh, he walked away.

"Hey, Tony?"

"Yeah, Cecil?"

"How we supposed to get that photo outta the table?"

* * *

**A/N Review please!**


	19. Hickey, What Hickey?

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**Reviewers, you guys are the best:)**

* * *

"-So then I decided to use the blue crayon instead of the green because it looked cooler but then I wondered if I should still use the green one, you know because of Uncle Ollie. But then I remembered yellow is my favorite color so then I had to figure out if I wanted the blue, the green, or the yellow. People say coloring's easy but it's not." Bella explained taking a bite of orange beef.

"I've been arguing that for years." Helena smiled, pulling her hair into a sloppy bun.

Bella suddenly frowned. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

"You have something on your neck, it looks like a bruise or something." Her daughter frowned. "Actually, it looks like something bit you? Did it happen in a fight?"

Helen craned her head to look at her neck and almost groaned. Thirty-two and she had a goddamn hickey! Oh, she was going to kill Vic for giving her that last night on patrol!

"It's a...mosquito bite." Helen lied.

"It doesn't look like a mosquito bite."

"It was a really big mosquito."

"But it's April." Isabella pointed out.

"Killer Moth mutated it, okay who wants an egg roll?" Helen said quickly changing the subject.

Bella raised an eyebrow. "Okaaaay...When is Daddy getting here?"

"Soon, pumpkin."

"Then I'll have an egg roll while I'm waiting." Bella smiled as her mother plopped one onto her plate.

A few minutes later Vic knocked on the door.

"You're late." Bella huffed as she answered it.

"What, no hello?" Q pouted.

"Hi, you're late." Bella repeated dragging him into the kitchen. "We already ate and I want to watch the movie before it's too late so get some food on a plate and get it the living room, got it?"

"You are so much like your mother it scares me." Vic smiled as she gave him a very Helena-like glare before running into the living room.

"Hello, Love." Q murmured pulling Helen close and giving her a kiss.

"Don't you 'Love' me, you're in trouble." Helena scowled. "You gave me a hickey last night and Bella saw it."

"What did you tell her?"

"That it was a mosquito bite."

"In April?"

"Shut up, what was I supposed to tell her? Mama and Daddy were on a dark roof all alone and were making out so Daddy decided to bite Mama, do you know how wrong that sounds?"

"On second thought..."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." She smirked giving him a quick kiss. "Now come on, we have to watch this movie."

"Which movie is it?"

"Some Barbie thing."

Vic groaned. "Do we have too?"

"What, is Barbie connected to the Illuminate?" Helen teased.

"No, she's just really annoying."

"We still have to." Helen smiled. "But think of it this way, this counts as our fourth date so after tonight we have one more to go and then I'm naked and yours."

Vic grinned ridiculously at the thought. "I think I'll manage."

"Good." She smiled kissing his cheek.

* * *

Vic woke up tiredly with the realization that his shoulder was numb and he was unusually warm.

He looked at the source of heat curled up next to him and realized that there were actually two; Helenas' head on his shoulder and their daughter asleep on his lap.

Glancing at the clock he realized that it was way past all their bedtimes. "Helena, are you awake?"

"Mm, give me a minute..." She mumbled.

He gently rubbed her shoulder. "Helen?"

She groggily opened her eyes. "What?"

He gestured to the clock. "We fell asleep."

"Her too?"

"Yes." He whispered pointing to their daughter fast asleep.

Helena studied her daughter for a moment. "This is the only time she's quiet. Well, sometimes she talks in her sleep but normally this is the only time."

"She looks like an angel." Vic mumbled.

"Sometimes she is one." Helena yawned stretching her arms over her head. "Do me a favor and put her to bed for me, okay?"

"Okay." Q said softly picking up the small girl and carrying her into her small bedroom. He gently laid her on to her bed and tucked her in, giving her a quick peck goodnight.

"Thanks." Helena sighed. "Jeez it's late, how the hell did we fall asleep? Normally we can go out on patrol for hours and nothing but an hour and a half of Barbie and we're out."

"Hurm." Vic muttered his mind going to work. "Maybe Barbie _is_ connected to the Illuminate. They could be putting something in the movie making it so boring you fall asleep and become prone to-"

"I get it." Helen cut in. "Hey, since it's so late, do you want to spend the night?"

"You mean like-"

"No, I just mean I don't want you to make a four hour drive at three in the morning when you're already wiped." She said quickly. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"I do." Q assured her. He looked around as she went towards her bedroom. "Uh, where will I be sleeping?"

"Um, with me."

He felt his whole body grow warm at the thought before mentally kicking himself. No, they would not be doing the dirty but oh-so-good thing and for once they would be literally sleeping together. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I mean I think we're to tired to actually do anything for once." Helen explained. _And because I really like teasing you._

"If you're sure." _You just like teasing me._

Helen smiled and disappeared into her room. "I don't know, I thought I was sure but you obviously have a problem controlling yourself around me."

"Oh, _I _have the problem?" Vic laughed as he followed her. When he entered the room he noticed Helen with her back facing him beginning to remove her clothes.

He gulped quietly as he stared at her unhooking her bra. Helen noticed and laughed, "I'm putting on my nightgown, dummy. But you obviously see something you like."

"Yes, very much." He admitted.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to change too?"

"Into what?"

"Don't you normally just leave on your pants and boxers?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Oooh, I'm going to see you shirtless, that's so revealing and personal." Helen teased slipping on her nightgown.

"Fine." Vic shrugged removing his clothes until he was only in his pants.

Helen studied him for a few moments. "Very nice."

"I was thinking the same thing." Q admitted.

"Flatterer." Huntress smirked sitting on the bed and ducking under the covers as Vic laid down next to her.

Helen smiled softly and moved closer to him. "This feels nice."

"Yes...it does." He agreed wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Mm, we had a lot of good times in this bed." Helen mumbled.

"Oh, yes." Q muttered growing hot remembering those times. "A hell of a lot."

"Probably too much."

"Probably."

"It wasn't our fault. We we're a very passionate couple." Helen shrugged. "And we've gone, what, two and a half weeks of dating without ripping off our clothes and going at it like dogs in heat."

"It's our record."

She laughed quietly and gave his jaw a quick kiss. "Too bad we have to break it, huh?"

"Well, we don't have to if you don't feel comfortable doing so." Vic said quickly.

Helen stared at him a moment. If she had any doubts before, they were gone now. "I do."

"Oh. Good, well, great, actually. Good night."

"Night."

* * *

Helen was having a very pleasant dream.

She always had nice dreams, and a lot of them were very sexy, but this one was easily one of the best she'd ever had.

She was in a hotel room in a nice, large bed and she was _not _alone. She could feel Vic next to her with every detail; his bare, muscular chest against hers, his fingers gently stroking her inner softness, warm lips smothering hers with blistering kisses.

She wanted him so bad.

Helen felt Vic cease his caress and shift to begin toying with her nipples. She moaned in pleasure and teasingly nibbled his ear, whispering how she wanted it and where. She rocked her hips when she felt his hot breath on her neck as he began to talk to her.

"Mm, Helen." She could here him murmur tiredly.

She ignored the slight confusion in his voice and attacked his neck with her lips as she quickly took off his pants leaving him only in boxers. Wrapping her legs around his waist she purred what she wanted, smirking as she felt him grow warmer.

"Uh, Helen?" He sounded oddly scared.

She shrugged it off, purring that she'd been very naughty. Deciding that this position wasn't going anywhere near as fast as she wanted it, she shifted so that she was on top of him, straddling Vics' waist. Teasingly, she slipped off her nightgown straps and off it fell.

"Helen!" She noticed the urgency in his voice but ignored it.

Nibbling around his jaw line, she teasingly sucked his lip and began to gently run her fingers down his chest and past his stomach. "Vic," She breathed, her voice dripping with lust and desire. "I, mm, need you to, uh, come on-"

"_Helena!" _He panted loudly.

Helen opened her eyes and stared down before having a startling revelation: She was with Vic, but they were in her bed in her home with their very young and non-deaf daughter a room away. Helen was on top of him, straddling his waist, her fingers curled around the elastic of his boxers. "Uh..."

Q looked at her mad with desire and panted, "Hi."

"Hi." Helen said exceptionally embarrassed. "I was having a dream." She offered lamely.

"It must have been a very nice dream." Offered Vic. "And sensual."

"It was." Helen replied quickly.

"Um, could you please get off me?" Vic asked politely.

"Wha-Oh, yeah." Helen mumbled sliding off him.

"Maybe not like-uh." He groaned feeling her rub against his aching organ.

Helen looked at him for a second in contemplation. Without a word she laid back on top of him and kissed him deeply, spearing her hands through his hair.

"Mm, Q?" She breathed.

"Yeah?" He muttered in between heated kisses.

"We've been on four dates, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you're not leaving, right?"

"Wasn't, mm, planning too."

"Okay." She sighed giving him one more deep kiss. "Touch me."

"Huh?"

She took his large hands in hers. "Touch me."

"Okay." He muttered slipping his hands under the nightgown and resting them on her bare thighs.

She almost whimpered at the sensations. She wanted him so damn badly, and four dates was close enough. Screw time, she wanted it bad and she wanted it now! "Take me." She panted.

"What?"

"Take me now."

"Are you su-"

"Yes. Now prove that you like me so much." She demanded in a lustful voice.

He looked at Helens' desire filled gaze and decided he better do as he was told. "On it." He mumbled moving his hands toward her panties. Oh, he was going to prove it all right. And when they were done she wouldn't have a single doubt in her mind.

He felt a favorite organ of his throb as it begged to be set free. Helen smiled and once again put her hands on to his waist, pulling them down and-

"Mama!" A voice came from behind their bedroom door with a loud knock.

"Shit!" Helen swore, jumping of her boyfriend.

Q looked up at her, flushed. "We need to get our own place."

"Mama, can I come in?"

"No!" Helen said a little bit to loudly as Vic and her quickly got off each other.

"But I need to!"

"Why?"

"I had a nightmare." Bella whimpered.

"Dammit!" Helen muttered quickly putting her clothes back on. She looked up at Vic, "Hide!"

"Where?"

"In the closet or something!" She hissed shoving him in the direction of her closet.

"Mama, I had a nightmare." Bella complained as she entered the room and saw her mother looking flushed and breathing heavily. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I, uh, was swatting a mosquito."

"Was it the same one who gave you that bite yesterday?" Bella asked looking at her mother curiously. "Because it gave you a few more."

"Yeah, it did." Helen said quickly. "But I killed it. Uh, go make breakfast and then we'll talk about your nightmare, okay?"

"Okay, but it was pretty crazy and it involved an elf, some butter, and a giant bug." Bella warned leaving the room.

Helen counted to ten after she was gone before quickly going over towards her closet. "Uh, are you okay?" She asked as Vic stepped out.

"Fine." he said quickly. "Um, where are my pants?"

"I threw them over there." Helen admitted gesturing towards the dresser.

"So, while you sneak out the window I'm going to take a nice shower, okay?" Helen asked as he finished getting dressed.

"All right." Vic complied. "And Helen?"

"Yes?"

"Make it a cold one." He advised ducking out her window.

"Yeah." She muttered into the empty room. "Ice cold."

But she smiled as she wandered down the stairs; in two days after one more date, Q was going to be naked and hers.

She wondered if she should buy a special outfit for the occasion.

* * *

**A/N Review please!**


	20. Nervous

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**Reviews make my day, thank you reviewers:)**

* * *

Helena absently kicked the robber in his head while debating how to ask this without making Dinah suspicious.

"Hey Canary, I need you to do me a favor."

"And that would be?" Dinah asked ducking a bullet and punching another in the head.

"Could you babysit tonight?"

"Why?"

"I have a date." Helen said casually.

Dinah stopped her pummel of the thief long enough to send a proud gaze at the younger women. "Good for you! Wait, who's it with?"

"Oh, just some guy I've known for a while." Helen said not really lying. "He's been begging me for a date for like six months so I figured I'd give him a chance."

"Does he have a name?"

"...Charles."

"Good!" Dinah laughed spin kicking her opponent. "For a while you had me really concerned."

"About what?"

"That you'd take Vic back after all the hell he put you through." Dinah explained. "I know you want us to get along but I can't even understand how you manage to put up with him, much less be friends. I mean come on, leaving your girlfriend pregnant and alone, what a jackass."

"Well, he didn't _know _I was pregnant." Helen started defensively.

"He still cheated on you."

"Actually, he said he didn't."

"Oh _really_?" Dinah snorted tossing another robber over her shoulder. "Then what was his excuse?"

"He said he didn't think he was good enough for me and he loved me to much to hold me back." Helen shrugged.

Dinah snorted. "And you believed that?"

"Um, yes." Helen admitted tossing a trash can lid at her opponents face. "It's just that, I don't know, he was always so honest."

"Whatever, as long as you've moved on." Canary sighed. "So what's this Charles guy like?"

"Um, well he's really sweet." Helena started figuring out how to say this without technically lying. "And Bella really likes him and he thinks she's adorable."

"Good, what does he look like?"

"Oh, you know...eyes, hair, a face-"

"Ooh, this one has a face? What a great change of pace." Dinah teased. "But could you be a little more specific?"

"Um, well he has greenish eyes and he's Irish so he's a ginger-"

"Do you have some weird redhead fetish?" Dinah asked.

"Probably, but I still need you to babysit."

"Why can't the face-less wonder do it?"

"You mean Vic?"

"No, Michael Jackson; who do you think?"

"Oh, um, he has to do the news so he can't do it."

"Why am I surprised?" Dinah sighed shaking her head. "Does he even pay child-support or anything?"

"Yes!" Helen said a bit to loudly.

Dinah rolled her eyes. "Which means no."

"Well, he doesn't exactly make a lot of money." Helena explained. _Correction; he makes enough to pay rent and sometimes eat out if he squirrels enough away for a month. _

"So you let him get away with paying nothing?" Dinah said in an I-know-I'm-not-your-mother-but-so-help-me-if-I-was-you'd-be-grounded tone.

"Well I mean he babysits a lot, he likes spending time with her, and he doesn't bad-mouth me or anything when I'm not in the room. He's really trying."

"Six months of attention doesn't make up for six years of neglect." Dinah said coldly.

"I never said it did." Helena said coolly. She didn't really expect Dinah to understand; this was something personal.

"Just promise you're not going to instantly hop back into bed with him." Dinah sighed.

Helena mulled over this for a moment. "Okay, I promise I won't _instantly _hop back into bed with him." She promised. Hey, it was technically the truth.

"Good." Dinah smiled. "And yeah, I'll watch her tonight with Ollie."

"Please keep a close eye on her this time."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the last time Ollie watched her she saw a photo I wish she didn't." Helen explained.

"Oh? OH!" Dinah exclaimed getting her drift. "Yeah, I promise."

"Good." Helena smiled.

"Now let's finish up kicking ass."

* * *

"So...I get the big bedroom, right?"

Ollie chuckled. "Sure munchkin, if you think you can handle it."

"Pft, I _know _I can." Bella snorted.

Ollie looked up at Helena, "You seem a little anxious, you okay?"

Helena looked up, startled. "Wha-Oh, yeah, fine. Just a little nervous about my date tonight."

Ollie raised an eyebrow. "_You're _nervous about a date? What, is it with the president?"

"No, it's with Q-a friend of mine." She finished quickly.

Olivers' eyebrows reached his hair, "So when were you going to tell us you and Vic were trying again?"

Helena looked around quickly for Dinah. "We're not trying again," She hissed. "and I'm not going on a date with him tonight!"

"Then why did you say his name?" Ollie asked innocently.

"Because I'm pissed at him for not being able to babysit." Helen lied smoothly.

"Whatever you say." Ollie sighed. "Why don't you two try again?"

"Come again?"

"Oh come on Helena, it doesn't take a genius to figure out you're still hot for each other."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. "We were eating together the other day and you two kept making googly-eyes at each other. It was sickening." He added.

"Ollie you're so stupid." Helena sighed rolling her eyes. "If we get back together I'll tell you two, alright. Not that that's happening any time soon." She added hastily.

"Well, they call me Cupid for a reason." Oliver winked.

"Well it can't be a very good one." Helen smirked.

"Has anyone ever told you that you can be very mean?" Ollie frowned, his ego slightly hurt.

"Yes." Helen said truthfully. "And why are you so for 'us'. I thought you were supposed to be with Dinah for this."

"Dinah has her own reasons for acting like she does." Ollie says softly. "She's only looking out for you, okay? Don't judge her to harshly, this is a lot more personal than you'd think."

Huntress opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but was cut off by Dinah suddenly entering the room. "What are you two talking about?" Dinah asked with a small grin.

"Oh, you know...archery." Ollie lied.

"Yep, he's in denial that I have better aim then him." Helena agreed.

"I don't know about that." Dinah smirked. "Ollie has _fantastic _aim." She purred, smirking at Ollie seductively.

Helen watched the two share a smoldering look. "Do you mind not doing each other when my kid's at your house. I'm going to have nightmares about leaving her here for the night."

Oliver smirked, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist. "What? The fact that we've been married for nine years and still keep it hot make you jealous?"

"You wish." Helen laughed. "It's actually kind of gross."

"Hmph." Dinah huffed giving Oliver a kiss.

"Well, I gotta go. Please don't give my daughter nightmares about you two 'wrestling'." Helen smirked.

"No promises!" Ollie called.

* * *

Vic nervously adjusted his ties for the eighth time.

It was his only nervous tick; when he was nervous or worried he kept fooling around with his tie. And tonight he was more nervous than he had been in years.

Tonight he and Helena were going to be intimate. After seven long, lonely years he was going to make love to his Helena again. She had made it a rule: no sex until the fifth date. He had no problem with it; it was reasonable, it was fair.

It was also an unspoken fact that it would happen directly after if not during the fifth date. They'd never said out loud 'okay, right after this we're going to go home and go to bed', but it was a mutual understanding that it was going to happen tonight.

He'd always been a fan of make-up sex, and after seven years of fighting tonight was going to be very, very fun. But...he was still worried. He hadn't let himself go in the past seven years or anything like that, he and Helen still had a strong sense of physical and mental attraction, and they didn't have to worry about being caught.

No, Charles Victor Szazs was worried that he wasn't going to be as good as he used to be. He could remember those long nights vividly and fondly, Helena screaming in utter pleasure and the bed shaking as he pleased her, the low moans and soft panting of his name on her lips, being able to go non-stop for hours and having marathons when they felt the urge to express their feelings.

He considered this. He was about forty, he had been about thirty-three the last time Helen and him had been together. He was still in excellent physical shape, but hey, there was a lot at stake here.

This wasn't just about pounding bodies; this was a symbol that they had no doubts and that they were going to make it this time. It meant Helen fully trusted him and that she had forgiven him.

So, naturally, he was fairly concerned about how well he would preform.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door, mentally shaking the thoughts out of his head.

Helen opened the door and smiled. "Hey, you ready?"

"Yes." He said taking in her small purple dress and matching heels. "I take it you're ready, also?"

"Yeah." She laughed tucking a strand of hair behind her flawless face and stepping out of her apartment.

"You know you almost got me in trouble." She smirked as he wrapped an arm around his waist.

"How so?"

"I kinda let it slip to Ollie we had a date tonight." She explained. "But then I lied and said I only said your name because I was pissed at you."

"So who did you tell them you had a date with?" Q asked curiously.

"A guy named Charles." Helen smirked.

"Ah, so telling the truth but wording in differently, clever." Vic smirked.

"But they're still gonna be pissed when we tell them. Well, Dinah will." Helen added.

"Will you be mad at her because of that?"

"No." Helen said thoughtfully. "Dinah's my best friend, and Ollie's, well, Ollie. They've helped me through a lot and always supported me, even when I'm acting like a bitch. If I was in her place I'd be mad to."

"But..."

"But, I guess I'll be a little peeved." Huntress admitted. "I mean seriously, I'm a big girl, I can make my own choices."

Vic laughed. "We _all _know that, believe me."

Helena smiled. "Good. Now, ready to leave?"

"Yes." Q said taking a deep breath.

"I think I am."

* * *

**A/N Read and Review**


	21. Busted

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**Reviews make my day, thank you reviewers:)**

* * *

"So... how was your day?" Vic asked.

"Mm, it was okay but it was so hard to concentrate." Helena sighed.

"Why?" Asked Vic in bewilderment.

"I kept thinking of all the filthy things we're going to do to each other later." She smirked, batting her eyelashes.

Vic felt his face turn slightly red as he gave an awkward cough. Oh jeez, why did she have to go and raise their standards even more? He was nervous enough as it was that he was going to fail big time. "Uh..."

"Well you're in a chatty mood." Helena remarked taking a bite out of her lasagna. "You've barely said two words through the entire evening, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said quickly. "Just thinking about, ah, the same thing." He lied.

Helena raised an eyebrow mischievously. "Well...we're almost done with our dinner, wanna go home and skip straight to dessert?"

Vic gulped. "Are you sure?"

Helen smiled and stood up, taking his hand in hers. "Mm...let me check." She purred giving him a seductive kiss from across the table. "Mm-Hm." She smiled licking her lips. "Let's go."

"O-Okay." Vic stuttered following her out of the restaurant as she called for a cab. Once they got in Helen leaned forward and kissed him deeply, spearing her hands through his hair.

"Y-You sure you're ready?" Vic breathed between kisses.

"Definitely." She growled sliding on his lap.

The cab driver chuckled at how backwards the situation was. "Hey could ya' wait 'til you're outta the car? I had a lady give birth to a kid in here last week."

Helen smiled keeping her eyes locked onto Vics'. "I think he's onto us." She whispered with a smirk.

"Me too." He whispered back with a small grin.

The ride home, in Helenas' opinion, took years. She'd waited seven years to tell Vic about Bella, two months before being friends with him again, five months before taking him back, and three long, long weeks before letting him back into her bed.

Helena Bertinelli hated waiting.

She could barely pay the driver fast enough as she quickly shuffled Vic out of the car and into her apartment, half-pushing him up the stairs and into her bedroom before closing the door and locking it.

Helen turned to Vic and smiled. "You ready?"

"Uh-huh." He said weakly, not completely convinced.

"Good." She smiled giving him a quick kiss "Now wait here."

"Alright." Q conceded as she walked into her bathroom. He looked around awkwardly as he shrugged off his coat and jacket, nervously loosening his tie and setting his hat on the desk. Anxiously he ran a hand through his hair, _I am going to screw this up big time._

"Ahem." Helena coughed as he turned around to face her. He felt his jaw drop as he caught sight of her standing in the doorway with a see-through scarlet red nightgown showing off her her tone stomach and a matching lace thong and bra underneath. "How do I look?" She grinned running her hands sensually over her curves.

Vic felt his mouth grow dry. "Good." He muttered thinking about what was underneath the skimpy get up. "Real good."

Helen smirked as she sauntered across the room and placed his hands on her hips. "Ready, big boy?"

"Yes." He nodded weakly as she tugged him to her by his tie, causing him to land on top of her and making the mattress bounce.

"Careful," She warned playfully undoing his tie. "if it breaks again I'm making you fix it."

"That was only twice." He protested beginning to feel his confidence return.

"True." She smiled kissing his jaw. A serious look suddenly flashed across her face. "Vic...I'm a little nervous." She admitted.

"_You're _nervous?" He choked out in disbelief.

"Well gee if you're gonna say it like that..." Helen frowned.

"N-No, I just thought I was the only nervous one." He explained.

"Really?" Helen continued. "'Cause I don't think that's a nervous tick." She teased gesturing below his waist.

"Uhhh..." He trailed off turning red.

"It's just...this is a pretty big deal, you know?" She sighed. "I mean, I never thought we'd be doing this again or that I'd start liking you again or just...any of it." She took his hands in hers. "I want to trust you never to leave again and I want to trust you when it comes to taking care of me and Bella, okay? I want to know that you're absolutely sure you're staying put. Can I do that?"

"Yes." He said softly. "You know I won't do that to you again. That was a jackass thing to do and I'm sorry."

"You were a jackass." Helen agreed. Her face softened, "But you're not anymore. _Most _of the time, anyways."

"Love you too." Vic chuckled.

"Well," Purred Helena sliding on top of him. "shall we?"

"Do what?"

"You're so stupid for such a smart guy." She sighed playfully, giving him a kiss.

Q was to busy trying to get her outfit off to get more out than a simple "Hurm."

Helen watched him attempt to unhook her bra off and smiled. "Like this." She explained opening it the front as her breasts poured out. Vic gulped quietly and pulled her close, cupping them in his hands and making her moan in delight.

"I knew that."

* * *

Isabella yawned and turned, over trying to fall asleep.

She wondered why she was here. Uncle Ollie said that Daddy was doing the news and Mama was out tonight with some guy.

Bella frowned, she did not like that one bit. Mama should not be out with other guys, she should be out with Daddy. It didn't make a sense; Daddy loved Mama, Mama loved Daddy.

Well...Mama kinda just put up with Daddy, but that still counted in her book.

She sighed and rested her head on her hand, absently flipping through the TV channels after giving up any chance of sleep. If Daddy was doing the news, then she would watch it for once. The news may have been boring and Daddys' show came on way past her bedtime, but Daddys' show was pretty popular and even Mama admitted he was pretty good.

Bella frowned, that was weird; Daddy wasn't on. She checked the channel, this was his station, so why wasn't he broadcasting? She thought this over for a few minutes before shrugging it off and thinking of Mama. Who was she with tonight again?

Chuck, Chris, something with a C. It was. . .Charles, that was it! Why did that sound so familiar?

_Hey, Daddy's name is Charles! Wait, Mama's with a Charles, Charles is Daddy's name. Daddy's not at work. _

Were they out together?

Bella thought over this for a few minutes before deciding they must have been. But why lie?

She was wondering what they could possibly be doing when she heard a noise by the door. With a frown, she got up and tip-toed towards the sound, pressing her ear against the door.

Suddenly, she felt a something cold pressed to the back of her neck. "Ya' gonna want to be quiet now." A voice whispered ruffly. "Wouldn't want to cut your pretty little neck with this here blade."

She felt her blood turn cold but forced herself to keep her voice steady. Mama had taught her what to do if something like this happened. "Why?"

"Because if I cut you you'll get blood all over i-"

"No, why are you doing this?"

"You're a Bertinelli, you gotta go."

"Becuase of my _name_?"

"Because you're scum."

Bella flinched. "If you touch me I'll scream, Uncle Ollie and Aunt Dinah will hear it, and you'll be sorry."

"But if you make a sound, I'll kill you, so you're gonna be quiet and we're gonna go for a nice ride, okay?"

Trembling, she nodded.

Tony grinned. "Good girl."

* * *

"G-God." Vic panted laying back in the bed breathless.

"Not your God." Helen corrected giving him one more kiss. "Helena."

He smiled at her tiredly and pulled her close, kissing her forehead. "Amen."

Helena looked up at him, collapsed onto his shoulder. She was sweaty and sore, but damn did she feel good! "So I take it you enjoyed yourself?"

"Yes, of course, I mean tha-that was amazing." Q breathed.

"Definitely." She murmured, her mind still blown. "That was the best I've ever had."

"...Ever?"

"Mm-Hm." She nodded. "Don't you think so?"

"Well, yes, absolutely but...the best?" He asked hopefully.

"Even better then the time we broke the bed." Helen smiled.

"Oh." Q grinned, his chest swelling up with pride. Getting a compliment like that from Helena was huge.

Helen giggled softly and tiredly snuggled closer to him. "Mm...What are you thinking about?"

"You, us, sex...you know we probably made Bella in this bed." He said thoughtfully.

"Um, actually we made Bella on the kitchen table." Helen admitted with a smirk.

"Oh." He replied feeling exhausted.

"You're not falling asleep on me, are you?" Helen teased.

"Maybe. Depends on what we do next."

"Hmmm..." Helen murmured climbing on top of him. "Well...it _has_ been seven years. We have a lot of making up to do."

"That so?" Q asked resting his hands on her thighs.

"Yep." She grinned dragging her nails down his chest. "A ton."

"And how should we do that?"

"How do you think?" She snorted giving him a kiss.

"Show me."

* * *

Helena woke up tiredly and looked around.

With a frown she realized she was the only person occupying the bed. She had a quick moment of panic thinking Vic had simply used her and started planning out how to get away with murdering him with her crossbow when the smell of freshly brewed coffee greeted her.

"I gotta learn to stop trying to kill people when I get upset." She murmured walking down the stairs after throwing on his shirt.

"You know I was going to kill you this morning." She yawned walking up to him.

"Well good morning to you too." He snorted pulling her in for a kiss. "What did I do now?"

"Nothing." She sighed resting her head on his bare chest.

Vic shrugged, not quite knowing how to respond to that. "Alright, then. Shall we have breakfast?"

"Mm, I'm still kinda hungry for dessert." She smiled.

Vic frowned. "We don't have any."

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you-Oh."

"You're lucky you're cute." Helena sighed in exasperated affection as she climbed onto the counter and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I'm cute?" Q said in surprise.

She rolled her eyes and kissed him deeply. "Adorable."

"Hurm, an adorable daughter, a beautiful girlfriend, and good looks. I'm a lucky man." Vic replied beginning to unbutton the shirt Helena was using as a nightgown.

"And don't you forget it." She smiled wrapping her bare legs around his waist.

Suddenly the door flew opened and Ollie and Dinah barged in the room.

"Bella's been-What the hell?" Dinah shouted as Helen and Vic broke apart in embarrassment.

Canarys' face turned red as she looked back and forth between the two lovers.

"What the fuck is going on here?"

* * *

**A/N And. . .They're busted.**

**A/N Review please!**


	22. Get Out

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**Oh reviews, how I love you so!**

* * *

Q took a step back from Helena and fought back a groan.

Everything had been going so good. He and Helena were back together, they were sexually active again, he had Helen on his kitchen counter ready for another round...

Then Dinah barged in with Ollie and messed everything up.

"Well?" Dinah half-shouted. "What?"

Helena sighed and slid off the counter. "Dinah, there's something I have to tell you..."

"Oh, _do_ tell." Dinah fumed.

Helena tugged a strand of hair awkwardly. "Okay, it's a little hard to explain."

Ollie looked back and forth between the two. "Um, not really. It's actually kinda obvious."

Helen slowly walked over to Vic and took his hand in hers. "We decided to give it another shot." She explained.

Dinah's eyebrow twitched. "So let me get this straight," She began pinching the top of her nose. "you decided to try again for no real reason and spent the entire night fucking each others brains out!"

Vic winced at her choice of words, that seemed like such a heartless way to describe what he and Helena had done last night.

"Okay, hold on!" Helen snapped. "There were a lot of reasons and, yeah, we were in bed last night but it's not like I decided to give him another chance and two seconds later hopped into bed with him!"

"Oh, _really_?" Dinah glared.

"Yeah, _really_!"

"Then how long have you two been sneaking behind my back and doing this?"

"Like a month!"

"So you've been lying to me for a month?" Dinah screeched.

"No! Yes! Gah, kind of!" Helen admitted.

"Really Helena, after everything you've done you choose to..."

Ollie ignored the two squabbling women and looked at Vic. "So...I take it you had a pretty fun night."

He watched a hint of red appear on his friends neck. "Very fun." Vic mumbled, staring at the floor.

"So you're trying again?"

"Yes."

"Wow, and already back to sleeping with your baby mama. Not to mention she's a super-hot superhero baby mama, wait to go buddy." The emerald archer grinned patting the other man on the back.

"Uh...thank you?" Vic blinked.

"No problem. Hey, do you think they're going to kill each other?" Ollie asked peering over at the two women.

"Hope not, Helena will be furious if blood gets on her cabinets."

"Maybe they'll wrestle." Ollie said hopefully.

"Hm..."

"Is that a yes?"

Vic looked at Helena moving closer to where she kept her knives. "I hope not."

"You're not my mom so stop acting like it!"

"Well maybe if you made a good decision every now and again I wouldn't have to babysit you all the time!"

"I'm sorry, who rescued who from Rulette again?"

"One freaking time!"

Helena glared at Dinah and gripped the counter so hard her knuckles turned white. "Shut up or get the hell out."

"Get out, hah." Dinah laughed. "I can't believe you! We took you in when you had nowhere else to turn, we consider your daughter our own, we help you when you need it-"

"I didn't ask for any help."

"Well I'm glad because if this is your idea of a reward then it sucks!"

"Will you please shut up?"

"No, I won't! And you know why, because I make good decisions and I take responsibility for my mistakes. You blame everything on everyone else then make all these crappy decisions and _completely _screw up your daughter by letting _him_ back into your bed!"

"Did it ever occur to you that I'm partially doing this for her?" Helena snapped as her eyes flew open in fury. "Did you ever stop to think that I might actually _want_ to give her a complete family?"

"Where is our daughter?" Q frowned suddenly, looking around the kitchen as though she might suddenly appear. "We left her with you."

Dinahs' face suddenly fell. "That's why we're here." She said quietly.

Helena knew something was very wrong. Ignoring her anger she asked carefully, "What happened?"

"She-She was kidnapped." Dinah said sadly, not looking her in the eyes.

"Mandragoras' men took her."

* * *

Bella tiredly looked around her tiny room.

It was small, cold, and way to dirty for her liking. Honestly, Aunt Dinah would have been horrified at all the dirt.

"Well, the little Bertinelli wakes." Came an eerie voice from behind her.

Bella jumped, _Ohmygod is that Chuckie? Ah, I bet it is! I've been taken by a killer doll and now he's gonna kill me! _"Who are you?" She yelped instead, saying a quick prayer it wasn't a demon doll.

"Why Miss Bertinelli, you don't know me?" The voice crackled. A pale figure suddenly stepped into the light and Bella gasped. He was huge, and she didn't think it was all fat, tall, sickeningly pale, and had an evil light to his eyes.

"I," He said. "am Mandragora."

Bella felt a shiver travel down her spine. Oh God, this was worse than Chuckie! This was _Mandragora_, the guy who killed Nona and Grandpappy, the guy who gave Mama nightmares that made her scream and terror and fly into her room to make sure she was safe, they guy who Mama almost killed.

And, in a strange sense, the man who made it possible for her to exist.

"H-Hi Mr, uh, Dragora." She said uncertainly.

He laughed. "What a delightful little piece of meat."

"Is that a fat joke? 'Cause it's not polite to tell fat jokes, even though you probably do it to hide some of your insecurities." She added.

"Come again?"

"Well...you're not exactly the skinniest noodle in the pot if you know what I mean." She shrugged. "Maybe you should join a gym, you know, get off the couch."

"I am in prime shape!" He roared. "This is all muscle!"

"I don't think muscle is supposed to jiggle like that." Bella pointed out, genuinely confused.

"Gah! Silence you annoying little pest!"

Bella fought back the urge to inform him that breath mints would be good, too. He didn't seem like the type of guy who liked being corrected.

"Are you gonna hurt me?" She whimpered.

"Of course not little _donna_." A sickening smile. "My knife on the other hand, well, I am not so sure."

Isabella gulped. "Killing people doesn't make you cool or anything, it just makes people dead. You should try to fight peer pressure." She added looking over at the two other men in the corner. "You could probably just sit on them, anyways."

Mandragora fought back the urge to kill her right there. "I will be glad when I cut that annoying tongue out of your mouth."

Bellas' hands flew to cover her mouth in horror, how was she supposed to order pizza without a tongue? Or eat pizza at all, for that matter.

She felt tears pool up in her eyes as terror began to sink in, but she quickly wiped them away with her sleeve. Mama always said Bertinelli girls don't cry.

She wondered where Mama was.

* * *

Helena Bertinelli was trying to remember her policy that Bertinelli women do not cry.

Tears of anger, hatred, and pain threatened to fall but she quickly blinked them away. Her baby_, _her little baby girl, was in the hands of the devil himself.

Steven Mandragora.

The same bastard that had murdered her parents, stolen her childhood, and haunted her for her entire life might take away her angel. Helena slipped on her Huntress mask and looked over at Vic as he tugged on his gloves, a grim expression on his face.

"You ready?" He asked tonelessly.

"Yes." She said determinately. "And Vic?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop from killing him this time."

Q was silent. "Me neither." He admitted wanting to do as much harm as he could to the man who had hurt the two most important ladies in his life.

Helena nodded. Mandragora, in a sense, had brought Bella into this world.

Now he had the power to take her out.

* * *

**A/N Review please!**


	23. Secrets Revealed

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**************Thanks for the awesome reviews!**

* * *

The tension in the javelin was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Oliver Queen fidgeted uncomfortably, for the most part he was a pretty upbeat guy. All this anger and tension wasn't quite his forte. _Helena looks like she's gonna kill something or start crying, old Viccy looks like Buddha which is pretty good 'cause he was practically blushing earlier. _Oliver mused, looking over his teamates. _Man is Dinah steamed, I haven't seen her this mad in years. Huh, she's pretty hot when she gets mad; in a sexy, predator way. Mm, wonder when we'll be done with this little mission..._

Dinah glared furiously at Huntress and Question. _Oh I can't believe those two! Ugh, I swear Helena must be as crazy as they say to put herself through this twice. Doesn't she know that guys who do that never change; God knows HE didn't. You can't trust guys who do that, they never change and they don't care. I should know that better than anyone._

Vic gave a silent prayer of thanks that Dinah's eyes weren't as deadly as her voice. Had they been both he and Helena would have been frozen alive from the icy glares she was sending them. _Christ, she's angry, wonder why she's taking this so personal, I did a bad thing but if Helen can see past that then one would think she could, too. Hurm, should investigate cause of fury later after we get our daughter. Swear if he touches a hair on her head I'll be helping Helen bury his body in a ditch._

Helena noticed Dinah glaring at her and looked away. _Ugh, I wish she'd shut up and and butt out! God, I can make my own decisions and with all this shit happening you'd think she'd be more worried about my daughter than who sleeps with me._

"So..." Started Ollie, eager to break the silence. "Wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"Oh, you have _got _to be kidding!" Helena exclaimed.

"Oliver!" Dinah snapped. "Would it kill you to be a little sensitive?"

"Hey, I'm just saying! It wasn't exactly a walk in the park to beat Mandragora last time and we're gonna need a lot of energy." Ollie argued.

"Well we all know that those two," Dinah cocked her head in Vic and Helenas' direction. "are probably exhausted so maybe that's not that bad of an idea."

"Damn straight we're beat." Helena snarled.

Ollie shot Vic a _Do something! _look, earning him a shrug of helplessness from the faceless man. "Could you two relax?" Ollie asked.

"No!" The two women both shouted at the same time.

"This is gonna be a fun ride." Ollie commented under his breath as he sank lower onto his chair on the javelin.

"Tell me about it." Dinah muttered.

Arrow resisted the urge to smack his face. "Can't we all just get along? At least until the mission's over?"

"Fine by me, just tell _her _to calm down." Helena shrugged, closing her eyes and leaning back in her chair; mentally deciding which weapon would cut through two tons of muscle the easiest.

"I vote for Ollie's suggestion." Q opined.

"Whatever." Dinah frowned.

"And I vote for myself so that's that. Good, now everyone can be focused and happy again." Seeing a glare rise from his companions he quickly added, "Well not HAPPY but, you know, mellow-ish."

"Mellow-ish?" Vic asked.

"It sounds like it could be a word." Ollie protested.

"Well, I'm glad we're all so darn happy now." Dinah muttered under her breath.

Huntress' eyes flew open. "Happy? You think I'm _happy_?"

"Now she's done it, here we go..." Vic whispered.

"I'm sitting here in a plane trying to get to my daughters KIDNAPPER who KILLED my family in front of me and made me spend my childhood afraid he would pop out of the shadows and shoot me! I'm trying not to panic at all the shit I know he can do to her and that he probably IS doing to her and you're all sitting here glaring at me for a choice I made and you think I'm HAPPY?" Helen demanded turning red with anger.

"Look I just meant-"

"Shut up Canary. I'm done talking to you." She finished sitting back down.

"Don't try to make yourself so innocent." Dinah scowled. "I'm worried too, but you don't see me blowing up and shouting at everyone. You made a mistake and now you have to deal with the consequences." Dinah said coolly.

"Mistake? Ha!" Helen snorted.

Ollie turned to Vic and whispered, "I don't know if I should be turned on or terrified."

"I'm a little of both." Q admitted.

Helena drew her crossbow.

"Okay, now I'm just terrified." Vic said quickly.

"Accidentally forgetting to lock the trigger and shooting someone in the arm is a mistake." Helen spat, holding up her crossbow for effect. "Agreeing to wait until five dates to have sex with someone you really care about, plan it all out, have both of you agree about it, then do it so long and hard you limp the next day isn't a mistake."

"No, but who you did it with was." Dinah retorted, unfazed.

Helens' eyes flashed dangerously with anger. "Funny, you yell at me for sleeping with a man who I made work for seven moths before he was allowed to touch me and another two weeks before letting him sleep with me when you've hopped right back in the sack with Ollie after he cheated on you, what, fifty times?"

Dinahs' hands curled into a fist. "Don't cross that line, Huntress."

"Oh, so were back to codenames' now? Well then _Canary_, since you think it's okay for you to cross that line why can't I?"

"I never said that-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough." Ollie declared standing between the two women before they could claw each others eyes out.

"No, it's not. You'd think that considering the circumstances she'd be a little more concerned about her niece but no; she's giving me a lecture like I'm her daughter." Helen spat.

"Maybe you just need to sort it out." Vic suggested. "You know, try talking."

"Ha." Arrow snorted. "The last time they resolved something we had to lock them in a cage and let them beat the crap out of each other!"

"And if I remember correctly you were the one that lost that, right Dinah?" Huntress asked sweetly.

"That's only because I let you win." Canary sneered.

"Oh please, you were out of breath and begging me to stop." Helen snorted.

"Okay, okay, we're all good fighters here." Oliver cut in quickly.

"You know what, I do think we need a moment." Helen said glaring at Dinah.

"Alright." Question said folding his hands on his lap as he and Arrow intently stared at the two women. "Feel free to start kicking each others asses whenever." Ollie added.

"I meant alone." Helen clarified. "As in just Dinah and I."

"Are you sure we can't watch?" Oliver frowned wistfully. "I love watching Dinah fist fight, it's really sexy."

"And that's why you're leaving." Helena explained, rolling her eyes.

"But-"

"_Goodbye,_ Oliver."

"Can't I just-"

"Beat it!"

* * *

"So you enjoying your stay?"

"Huh?" Bella said in confusion before realizing he was talking to her. "Oh, uh, yeah I love what you've done with the place. I mean gray; that's-that's a really nice color and you've got lots of weapons. Sharp, pointy weapons..."

"I ain't gonna use 'em long as you behave."

"Ain't isn't a word."

Tony frowned. "Sure it is. Ain't is a word, what else would it be?"

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is!"

"No it's _not!_"

"Yes it-"

"Shut up!" Tony roared, cocking his gun. "Ain't is a word and it means isn't and it's real! If you say it ain't a word again I'll shoot you!"

"You know I like the other guard a lot better, he's nicer than you _and_ he uses real words not made up ones like confuzzled, shnerple, _ain't_." Bella frowned. "Plus he jiggles when he walks which makes me feel like he's Santa."

"Whatever, kid." Tony sighed, lighting a cigarette. "In a little while you'll be dead and then I can dance on your grave and use all the slang I want." He smiled.

She ignored the urge to stomp her foot and tell him that she's wasn't going to die because Mama and Daddy were going to rescue her. "So you're admitting it's slang?"

"It's a word!"

* * *

Dinah turned around to face Helena and crossed her arms, staring at the younger woman suspiciously. "And what exactly do you think this is going to accomplish?"

"I don't know, Vic suggested it and it sounded like a good idea." Helena admitted.

"Oh well if Vic said it then it _must _be true." Dinah gushed.

"What is your problem today?" Helen exploded. "I get it; you're mad! But, God, you'd think that maybe you could be a little sympathetic since my baby's in the fat bastards hands but no, you're just thinking about Dinah!"

"I'm thinking of myself, please!" Dinah laughed. "If I was that selfish do you honestly think I'd be so upset about you and Vic? I'm trying to look out for you and all you're doing is stabbing me in the back."

"Why do you even care, you're not my mother!"

"No but I'm trying to look out for you!"

"You keep saying that but all I see is you acting like a bitch because you've got a grudge!" Huntress snarled. "I don't get why you feel the need to make this all about you!"

"I'm not making it all about me!" Canary shouted. "It's not my fault you can't make good decisions about who to date."

"Oh, you're telling that to _me_? I'm sorry, which one of us is dating a billionaire who sleeps with everyone in a skirt again?"

Dinah glared at her. "For your information, Ollie's changed. He hasn't slept with anyone besides me in the nine years we've been married. So yes, he did it in the past, but that's the past."

"Same with Q and I, we both made mistakes and now we're trying to fix them." Helena coolly retorted.

"But that's different; Ollie might not have been able to keep it in his pants but he didn't _abandon _his child!"

"'Cause I never told him about her!"

"Don't you get in Helena? Guys like that never change, once they leave they don't ever stick around for good."

Helen rolled her eyes. "What, did you get that from a Hallmark movie or are you speaking from experience?"

"Experience." Dinah said tonelessly.

"Meaning?"

Dinah looked at her suspiciously before letting out a sigh. "Before I was born, my mother; the original Black Canary, was dating a man who later became my father. They were young and stupid and ended up getting her pregnant with me. The second my 'father' found out he left. I never even met him."

The Italian-American looked at Dinah in a mixture of shock and sympathy. "I never knew..."

"Now do you get it," Dinah said, straightening up and regaining her composure. "men don't change. Once they leave, they stay gone. My dad did it to me and my mother, and Vic will do it with you and Bella."

"You're wrong." Helena said, shaking her head. "Look, I'm sorry you went through that but Vic's not like that. He actually _wants _to be part of our daughters life and to try again. We both admitted our mistakes, tested it out on a few dates, and we decided to try again. It's not like we decided to throw caution and our clothes to the wind, we thought it out."

"But-"

"And he didn't leave _knowing _he'd knocked me up." Helen added. "Which he actually took pretty well."

Dinah stared at her sadly. "You're not going to listen to me, are you?"

"No." Helen shook her head. "I'm sorry you went through that, but I'm also stubborn. I want to try again, so I'm going to."

"I don't like him."

"You don't have to, just don't constantly judge us; especially in front of Bella. It's not good for kids to be exposed to that."

The beautiful blond woman sighed. "I really wish you wouldn't, he reminds me to much of my dad."

"Your dad was a redhead?"

"Helena..."

"Kidding." Huntress said quickly. "But seriously, try to get along. I rarely go for the peaceful approach so you should do it for me just this once."

Canary looked at her for a long while. "I'm not promising anything." She finally sighed.

"I don't need promises." Helen said determinately. "Right now I just need your help."

Dinah was quiet for a moment. "Okay, I can do that."

* * *

**A/N Review please!**


	24. Deadly Agreements

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**Thank you all for the wonderful reviews!**

* * *

The small group quietly crept towards the dark manor, the pale moonlight offering cover from prying eyes and armed guards.

"This is where they're holding her?" Ollie asked, looking over the large mansion. "Remind me to ask Mandragora to kidnap me sometime; this place is nicer than most hotels."

Helena glared at him. "Come to think of it, we _should_ ask him to kidnap you. That way we won't have to put up with your hippie preachings, leprechaun wear, and liberal ass."

"Personally I think I've got a great ass." Arrow replied quickly turning around to look at his backside.

"How do you constantly put up with him?" Huntress murmured, casting a look at Dinah and hoping for an explanation.

"I'm still mad at you." Canary frowned. "Now do we have a plan here?"

"Get in, kill the bastard, get her, get out." Helena said tonelessly.

"I meant a _real_ plan." Dinah scowled.

"No, we tend to improvise." Q explained. "I like to plan but normally there isn't time."

"We're more into being spontaneous." Huntress added.

"So no plan." Canary sighed.

"There's a lot of guards around here," Ollie noted as he surveyed the area. "let's split up and take them out."

"Okay, that sounds good." Helena agreed with a nod. "Ollie take left, Dinah take right, and me and Q will get the ones around back."

"Excuse me Miss Teacher, didn't you tell me it was supposed to be 'Q and I'?" Dinah asked innocently.

"Wow, you remembered that insult from seven months ago." Helena said, unimpressed. "I'm flattered."

"Uh, let's split up now." Ollie suggested. Though normally he would like nothing more than to watch his sultry wife go toe-to-toe with an equally sexy superbabe, they needed to get this done as soon as possible.

"Agreed." Replied Q as he stood up, gesturing for Helena to follow him. Helena cautiously strode besides him, mentally bracing herself for an insult or sex joke from Dinah as they walked towards their destination.

"What did you talk about with Dinah?" Vic inquired as they prepared to take down the guards. "I didn't hear any yelling and I didn't see any fighting no matter how much I-er, Ollie would have liked to see that."

"You're the big detective here; figure it out." Helena smirked.

"I will." Q assured her.

_Silence._

"Are you two still friends?"

"I don't know." Helena took a strand of hair and twirled it around her finger. "I _want _to be, I mean I've known Dinah forever and we've been good friends through it all. I just wish she'd keep her opinions to herself."

"She'll come around." Vic said encouragingly. "It's hard to stay away from you."

"Even when I'm acting like an angry, moody bitch?"

"Especially when you act like an angry, moody bitch."

"How come?"

"You're sexy when you're angry."

"Lucky for you."

"Hurm." He suddenly stopped walking and placed a hand over her chest. "Stop."

Helena raised an eyebrow. "We're trying to get our daughter back from Mandragora and you're stopping so you can feel me up?"

Vic suddenly realized where his hand was and dropped it in alarm from over her breasts. "Sorry." He mumbled as a hint of red appeared on his neck. "There are three guards over there; take them out?"

Helena cracked her knuckles. "Let's."

* * *

"Hey Frank, why we guarding this place again?"

Franco Ramano absently played with the knife in his grasp, twirling it in his hands and around his fingers. "Because the boss says we gotta, Derante."

"So?"

"So when the boss man says to do something, you do it. You don't wanna end up under that bridge with your cousin Omar now, do ya'?"

"I guess I don't..." The other guard admitted.

_Crack!_

Derante whirled around and aimed his gun where the noise had come from, "Hey! Come outta there now!"

Franco smacked him on the head. "Moron; that was a squirrel!"

Derante once again aimed the gun. "Hey, what'd I just tell you?" "But I hate squirre-Ow!" He shouted as something cracked against the side of his neck.

"What the he-" The other guard was cut off by a swift kick to the base of his spine as he fell to the ground, unconscious.

The third guard, Pino, backed away slowly as two masked figured approached him. "H-Hey, what's going on?"

"Allow me to bring you up to speed." The woman hidden by the shadows drew her crossbow. "You are the hunted..." She aimed the deadly weapon at him, firing a knockout dart into his neck as he collapsed to the ground.

"And I am the Huntress."

* * *

Dinah smiled as she hid behind the bush, listening to the guards talk amongst themselves.

"He-he, oh and she was loving it. We was shaking the bed together, right, then her husband got home and caught us. He was yelling and I says to him, "You think me doing your wife is bad, you should've seen me screwing your daughter!"

"Ha Ha, Rosario my man you should be happy he didn't catch you with his maid, too!"

"Now boys." Dinah scolded softly as she flipped in front of them. "Didn't your mothers ever tell you it isn't polite to kiss and tell?"

"Heh, listen doll if we kiss I won't tell a soul." The man, Rosario, grinned. "But I doubt all we'll be able to do is kiss, seeing how much you're into wearing almost nothing."

Dinahs' eyes went wide with surprise before her look quickly turned into fury. Two seconds later Rosario was laying flat on the ground with a broken nose.

Canary glanced over to the other armed man, staring at her in horror.

"Boo."

"Gah!" He exclaimed as he ran away as fast as he could.

Dinah sighed and shook her head sadly. "Guess they just don't make henchmen like that used to."

* * *

"Rosario...Derante...Franco; report immediately!"

_Silence._

"I shall only ask once more; if none of my men report to me they will be killed, do you understand?" Mandragora rasped.

_Silence._

"Maybe the battery's dead." Suggested Bella, peering at him from inside her holding cell.

"Impossible!" He snapped. "Something is happening. Tony! Cecil! Get in here now!"

"Yeah boss?" Cecil asked as the two men scampered quickly into the small room.

"Something is happening to my men; go see what it is!"

"Why?" Cecil asked nervously. If bad things were happening to people he didn't want them to happen to _him_.

"Because I said so and you will do as I say!" Roared Mandragora. "Find out what is happening and stop it. Meanwhile, I will take care of some business that has been coming for over three generations."

He looked at the youngest Bertinelli and grinned wickedly; the shadows creating fire in his eyes. "Then my work will be complete."

* * *

"Wait." Huntress murmured as she and Q silently climbed in the window.

She reached into her belt and pulled out a small bottle, spraying it into the air and watching a series of red beams suddenly appear. "Brilliant." Vic whispered, impressed.

Helena took a step forward and positioned herself carefully in preparation for the gymnastic feat she was about to preform. "Honey, you ain't seen nothing yet." With that she broke into a series of complicated back flips, twists, and mid-air summersaults before landing gracefully and turning back to Q, curious as to how he would make it across the room.

She watched him gaze thoughtfully at the inferred lights before walking over to the wall and running his hand over it, searching for something. When he found what he was looking for, he hesitated for a moment before breaking the device with his gloved hand. The beams quickly disappeared as the hallway once again became clear. He turned back to Helena, "Ta-da."

She scowled at him. "Cheater."

"Yours was more fun to watch." He admitted to her as they wandered down the long halls. Helena suppressed a shiver; doing this was bringing back a lot of old memories.

"The last time I was here I tried to kill him." She said quietly.

"I know." He reminded her.

"But you convinced me not to."

"Do you ever wish I didn't?"

She contemplated it for a moment. "Sometimes. Now, especially; but then I think that we would have never gotten together or had Bella and I don't know. It's like a paradox."

"Hurm."

"Vic...What if she's..." She trailed off, unable say the horrible thought aloud.

"She's not." Vic said with more confidence then he felt. "She's your daughter, after all."

Helena shook her head. "No, she'll be fine because she's _our _daughter."

* * *

Ollie glanced over at his wife, "Maybe I should fight them instead." He offered. "I'm a little afraid that you might kill someone if you fight them."

Dinah scowled at him. "Fighters need energy, and if it's anger then so be it."

"Why are you so mad?"

"Do I really have to spell it out for you?" She asked rhetorically.

"No, and forget I mentioned it." He looked her over in debate, trying to decide if this was an appropriate time to tell her how sexy she was when she was pissed and that it was a huge turn on.

"Dinah have I ever told you-"

_"Freeze!"_ Shouted a voice from behind him. Ollie felt cold metal press against his neck, "Or else."

"Heh, I was going to tell you the same thing." The emerald archer chuckled as he grabbed the Tony by the wrist and flipped him over his shoulder. "Come on, you seriously think that I've been married to the Black Canary for nine years and didn't pick up a few moves?"

Tony glared at Arrow before coming at him with a series of kicks before hitting the blond square in the chest causing him to groan in pain. "You seriously thought I've been in the Mafia for my entire life and didn't do the same thing?" Tony laughed.

"Hey, you're really pretty." Said Cecil in surprise as Dinah charged him. "Thank you." She smiled as she punched him square in the face.

"I don't think you hit him as hard as you could've!" Ollie called. "We're not supposed to play favorites!"

Dinah shrugged. "I like it when men compliment me."

"_I _compliment you all the time."

"Saying that I get you so horny with my hot bod is not a compliment, Hon."

"Yeah, well." Ollie paused to think of a compliment as he absently slammed his knee into Tonys' shoulder. "What if I said you have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen?"

Dinah smiled at him as she gave Cecil one last kick in the ribs. "Now we're getting somewhere."

* * *

"Come now, child."

"But I don't want to." Bella protested, biting her lip.

"I said _come now_!" Mandragora repeated, raising his voice.

"But I don't wanna-" He silenced her by grabbing her arm, twisting it, and breaking it with a sickening _crack!_ "OW!" The little girl yelped in pain as she felt her bone snap, her stomach lurched in protest of the sensations as she tried to desperately fight back tears.

"Now do you understand that you will do what I say?" Mandragora growled.

She whimpered and nodded her head, cradling her broken arm. "Yes."

"Good girl. Now come with me."

"Where are we going?" She whispered.

"To your funeral."

* * *

"Vic, I'm getting really worried." Helena murmured.

"They have to be around here somewhere." Vic muttered. "We haven't tried the lower levels yet; come on."

"What if we don't make it?" Helena asked beginning to panic more than she had been previously doing. "What if we're too late?"

"We're not going to be late." Q argued as they stormed down the staircase. "We can't be."

"I-I know, we need to stay positive." Helena breathed as they entered the basement. "Bella! Isabella!"

"Helen, be quiet!" Vic hissed.

"You be quiet and I'll find her!" She snapped breaking into a run. "Isabella!"

"She's not here." Vic said as he looked around the room, pausing to stare when he saw the empty holding cell. "We're too late." He whispered feeling the color drain from his face.

"N-No." Helena whispered. "No, we're not. She's gotta be here somewhere, I can feel it!"

"We've already tried all of the rooms, where else could she be?" Vic sighed hearing the despair in his own voice. He had failed and now his little girl had to pay the ultimate price.

"The yard." Helena yelped. "Vic, what if they're getting away?"

"Sounds too far fetched-"

"Just shut up and follow me!" Helena ordered as they raced back up the stairs and through the house. "Oh God, please not my baby." She prayed aloud.

Vic said nothing as he followed her. He had stopped believing in God long ago.

"Vic, there!" Helena shouted as she saw a large, pale figure dart along the grass; a much smaller silhouette in his grasp.

"_Mama!_" Bella cried.

"Mandragora!" She shrieked, drawing her bow. "Stop or I swear to God I'll shoot!"

The pale man looked at her and smiled. "Well if it isn't Ms. Bertinelli and her loyal boyfriend...what's his name. It is so nice to see you two again."

"Put her down, now." Helena ordered, narrowing her eyes.

"I'd do what she says." Vic quietly suggested. "She has a deadly weapon and you have nothing but your palms."

"One would think so." Mandragora grinned, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a handgun. "But I've learned in this business one should always be prepared."

"Mama...?" Whimpered Isabella, cradling her arm.

Helena looked at her babys' tear-soaked face. "It'll be alright, sweetheart." She said with much more certainty than she felt.

Mandragora placed the gun to their daughters' head. "If you do not do what I say then I will shoot. You've seen what I'm capable of Ms. Huntress so I assume you'll listen rather well."

Helena looked at him in disgust before lowering her weapon. "What do you want?"

"Your life." Mandragora said coolly. "Same as always. So what do you say; your daughters life for your own?"

Helena looked over at her daughter. She had never wanted Bella to see what she had seen, but she couldn't bear the thought of her baby dying at the hands of the monster who'd already taken away her parents. "Fine."

"No!" Vic growled stepping in front of her. "I'll do it. Just leave them alone and take me instead."

"Vic don-"

"It's okay, Helen." Q assured her with more bravery then he felt. "Just as long as you two are safe."

"As noble as that sounds I am afraid I cannot allow that to happen." Mandragora smiled. "However, I would be interested in trading both of your lives for the childs'."

Helena looked at Vic. She knew that there was a high possibility that once they were dead he'd kill Isabella anyway, but Helena was willing to do anything at this point. Vic saw her face and knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Fine." He said taking a step forward.

"We'll do it."

* * *

**A/N The next chapter will be up a lot quicker, I promise:)**

**A/N Review please!**


	25. Climax

**A/N I don't own these characters, wish I did though...**

**Thanks for reviewing:)**

* * *

The enormous man smiled, "I thought you'd see it my way."

Helena suppressed the urge to rip his face off. "Not like we have much of a choice."

"Come now little Helena, I remember when you were little. You never acted so mean to me, although I know you were terrified of me which is why Franco always ordered me to stay away from you." Mandragora chuckled. "Idiot of a man really thought he was in charge of me."

Huntress' body trembled in rage. She hated this man, this monster. She hated him and she wanted to watch him suffer at her mercy, she wanted to take a knife and shove it down his throat after she'd cut off his-"Helena." Vic said quietly as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't."

Helena resisted her natural instinct to smack him away and attack Mandragora. Vic was right; they needed to be calm otherwise their daughter would pay the price. "Fine." She muttered.

Bella looked back and forth between the adults in horror. Was he really going to kill Mama and Daddy? He couldn't; no one could hurt them! She'd seen Mama fight men before and Bella was fairly sure she could take this one down. So why were they acting like this was the end? "Mama...?"

Helena looked anxiously at her daughters face. "It's okay sweetie; Mama just has to take care of a little business."

"How touching." Cooed Mandragora. "If only I had my camera with me."

"You're scum." Helena sneered.

Mandragora flashed her a toothy grin. "No little Helena; I am a Mafio, just like _you_."

"I'm nothing like you."

"So true." Mandragora sighed.

"A deal's a deal." Question spoke up. "You give us our daughter, we give you our lives."

"...Daddy?" Bella whimpered. What was going on? Why weren't they fighting back?

"It's okay sweetheart." Vic said encouragingly. "You'll be alright."

_But what about you? _At this point Bella had decided to keep her mouth shut for once in her life.

"You heard him." Helena narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Hand her over or the deal's off."

"Fine." Laughed the morbidly obese man as he released the little girls unbroken arm and shoved her forward. Isabella blinked in surprise before scrambling to her parents and jumping into her fathers' arms.

"What's going on? Why are we-?" Vic placed a gloved hand over her mouth. "Shh..."

Mandragora stood up straight and eyed the group. "I held up my part of the bargain," He cocked the gun in his hand. "and seeing how this gun can have all three of you dead on the ground before Ms. Huntress can take out her little toy I suggest you stay true to yours."

"Fine." Helena said calmly. She moved closer to Vic and kissed her daughter on both cheeks. _"E 'bambina ve bene, ti amo e lo fa il tuo papa. Ci piace cosi tanto."_

Bella nodded. "_Ti amo, Mama." _She didn't know what was going to be okay or why Mama was telling her that she and Daddy loved her, but she figured the best thing to do was tell her she loved her back.

"Ahem." Coughed Mandragora. "As touching as this is, I have places to be so if you would be so kind..."

"Daddy, you're kidding, right?" Bella asked hopefully. People couldn't really be that mean, could they?

Vic turned to his daughter. "Just get behind us Bella, It'll be okay."

Helena felt a shiver go down her spine at how close this was to when her own father his her in the closet. But whereas most people couldn't even imagine something as horrible as this happening once, she had to live through it twice.

Q gently put their daughter on the ground, "Leave, now."

Isabella looked up at both of her parents before slowly nodding and taking off into a sprint towards the bushes. Helena watched her go, thankful for the small blessing of sparing her daughter to what she had witnessed before casting a look at Vic. Even though his face was hidden by the mask, she knew what he was thinking.

He turned his non-face to her and offered his hand. At least if he was going to die, he'd have Helena by his side. She took it and intertwined her fingers in his, squeezing his hand with hers and feeling him do the same. They turned back to Mandragora. "Well, I see we are now getting somewhere." He roared with delight.

Helenas' eyes flashed with fury, "I should've killed you when I had the chance."

Mandragora shrugged. "I was thinking the same thing." He aimed the gun at the two. "Except I can take that decision back."

Helena braced herself. Hate like she hadn't experienced in years was flooding through her as she faced him. Mandragora smiled as he lifted the gun and lined it up at them. "Goodbye Ms. Bertinelli and Mister Question."

Question took one last look at Helena, taking her in. Even faced with death she still stood defiant and tall; the most beautiful women he'd ever seen. He held her hand tighter, wishing there was a way he could save her.

And, for the first time since he was a boy, Charles Victor Szazs prayed.

Huntress glanced at her Q for what would ultimately be the last time. She noted with pride that he was standing straight and fearless, the strangest man she'd ever known and the one she'd loved more than any of them. She felt him tighten his grip on her hand and gave him a small smile.

Mandragora put his finger on the trigger.

It went off with a loud _bang!_ and the sickening sound of a bullet making contact thundered around the mansion grounds.

Question opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. Not that he wasn't grateful, but why wasn't he dead?

"Hey buddy," Came the cocky voice that could belong to no one else but the ever-so-confident Oliver Queen. "It's not nice to try and kill people who let you live!"

Huntress whirled around to see the smoldering gun lying on the ground with an arrow through the handle, a crumbled statue where the bullet had hit not to far away.

"HI-YAH!" Canary shouted as she kicked the man in the neck. Mandragora groaned and turned towards her, utter fury in his eyes. "You should not have done that, little birdie." He raised his arm and smacked the blond woman away as she flew towards Ollie.

"Canary!" Shouted Huntress as the woman laid still.

"Dinah!" Yelped Ollie in horror as he ran towards his wife.

Helena turned her gaze back to Mandragora with resolve. In one fluent motion grabbed her fallen crossbow and swung it towards her tormentor. _"Mandragora!"_

"Aw, the little lady has a toy, how precious." Cooed Mandragora as he cocked his head to the side.

Isabella had tumbled from her hiding spot behind the staute after it was blown to pieces, she was currently trying to figure out where the heck to hide. She looked around anxiously, searching for somewhere safe when her eyes locked on to Daddy. Without a second thought, she ran to him.

"Daddy!" She cried throwing an arm around his leg. Vic looked down, started. "What the-I told you to hide!"

"I did, but then the statue blew up and I was scared and sad and kinda hungry so I went to find you!" She explained in one breath.

Vic opened his mouth to answer her when he suddenly spotted his lover shrieking at her childhood tormentor.

"We'll see how little this toy is after I'm done with you." She hissed, taking a step towards him. "You bastard, you sorry son of a bitch. Do you know what you've done to me over the years? How much you've taken from me?"

She felt tears of anger and angst in her eyes, but she was to infuriated to care. First her parents, then her baby, just all of it. It was too much. "Do you know how much I hate you? How many times I've dreamed about killing you?"

Her body shook with emotion. "I hate you, I swear to God you worthless piece of shit I hate you!" She was done, done with it all. She had the opportunity to kill the monster from her childhood, and damn it she was going to. No more little girl hiding in the closet, no more having nightmares to this day of evil men with eyes like a bottomless pit.

No more hiding, no more fear, no more anything. She tore off her mask and dropped it to the side; no longer was she Huntress, no longer was she Helena, she was a woman with a mission and that mission was going to be accomplished.

Vic watched Helena tear off her mask in disbelief. She was really going to do it this time, wasn't she?

"You prick," She whispered. "You worthless piece of slime. I'm going to kill you, got that? No one's going to save you; not your son, not Q, no one." She placed her hand on the trigger. "And now I'm going to take your life like you've done with so much of my family."

Bella stared at Mama in horror, was she really going to kill him? How could Mama, the same lady who kissed her cuts, who held her when she cried; and who tucked her in at night, be a cold-hearted killer?

Helena stole a quick peak at Vic to see what he was thinking of all this. Instead, her gaze fell upon her daughter.

She'd never seen her look so afraid.

She'd never seen her look so afraid of _her._

Helena froze in horror. How could she look at her like that? Like _she _was the monster here? After everything Mandragora had done to them, she chose to look at her own mother like she was the killer.

For a second she realized how it must've looked.

To a six year-old, she was the bad guy. She was the one screaming and swearing with the weapon, and at this very moment her baby was learning a very important fact about her mother.

She was willing to kill.

The thought was terrifying.

Helena wanted to pause everything and hold her daughter tight. She wanted to tell her that she wasn't evil and that Helena loved her and would never hurt her like she was going to hurt_ him_.

But she couldn't, she could only watch as her daughter stared at her in fear and terror.

Was watching a parent murder someone as bad as watching them be killed? Helena gulped, if she did this Isabella would never look at her the same way again. Every look, every action would be shadowed by fear.

As much as she hated Mandragora, she loved her daughter more.

Helena lowered her weapon.

"What is it Ms. Huntress, to much of a coward to make the kill?" Taunted Mandragora.

"No." Helena relpied quietly. "You live and thrive on fear and hate and blood; it makes you _happy_." She curled her fists. "I hate you, and so help me if things were different then you'd be dead. But as much as I hate you..." She turned away and closed her eyes. "I can't do it."

Huntress once again raised her weapon and fired, hitting him in the leg and causing him to explode in agony.

Helena ignored him and walked to Vic, kissing him and taking Bella out of his arms and into hers.

"Mama, why didn't you kill him?" Her daughter looked at her confused, but Helena didn't want to explain it. She didn't want to destroy a child's, _her_ child's innocence.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

* * *

Oliver lifted Dinah into his arms and carried her to the rest of the group.

"She's gonna be alright, but she's gonna have a hell of a headache later."

"Good." Helena nodded walking towards her friend. "Are you alright?"

"I guess." Dinah shrugged.

"Thank you for helping us." Helena replied quietly.

"Consider it a repayment for Metabrawl." Dinah yawned. "And Helena?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry, who you date is your choice and-"

"It's fine." Helena waved her off. "If I were you I'd be upset, too."

Dinah smiled. "That still doesn't mean I approve."

"It wouldn't be the same if you did."

Dinah looked at the moaning Mandragora. "You didn't kill him?" She asked in surprise.

"No." Helena said quietly. "Nobody died tonight."

Deep down, Helena knew not just their lives were spared

* * *

**A/N I'm toying with the idea of a sequel, would anyone like that?**

**A/N Read and review, 1 chapter left.**


	26. The End

**A/N I don't own anyone but Isabella.**

**A/N Can I just say I was never expecting this many reviews? I was only going to make this 15 chapters and wasn't expecting any more than maybe fifty, thank you all so much:)****.**

* * *

Helena felt a shiver travel down her spine as Vic kissed her neck. "Oh, God, I missed you." She mumbled against him.

"How could you miss me? I never went anywhere." He replied as he tightened his grip around her waist.

"_This _time." Helen reminded him. "But enough of that, let's just get started already."

He paused and looked up at her. "Hurm, you're even more passionate than usual."

Helena smirked and plopped herself down on his lap. "That's because I was off duty for the past few months, Mister. But now that I'm back you are so _mine_." She growled with a deep kiss.

"I could think of worse things." Q admitted while laying down and pulling her on top of him. "Though, I can hardly feel any pain since Cadmus. Between that and time, my body's not as sensitive as it used to be."

Helena grinned wickedly. "I'm taking that as a challenge." She speared her hands through his hair with a deep kiss, nibbling his bottom lip and getting ready to claim him hers the way she liked best. "So Vic, are you ready to-"

"_Waaah!" _

The couple groaned. "He has to do that now?" Vic grumbled.

Ever since their son Charles Aristotle Bertinelli-Sage had been born, the couple hadn't been able to physically indulge in each other as much as they both liked.

"I'll go get him." Helena sighed as she got out of the couples' bed.

Vic fought back a groan of annoyance as he reclined back into the bed and sighed. It wasn't fair, the second Helena had found out that he had yet again impregnated her she made the one rule no man ever wanted to hear; no sex for another seven months. Considering everything else they had done in the bedroom he had simply assumed it would be a little extra work, but no.

Helena had put her foot down with this rule; no sex until their baby was born.

He frowned, that had been the plan. But ever since Charles had been born they'd been to busy and tired to do anything. Tonight, they were finally supposed to have their way with each other; but apparently that idea was slowly fading away.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by his ever-so lovely Helena entering the room, a small bundle in her arms. "Move." She playfully ordered as she flopped down on the bed.

Helena smiled as she stared at her infant son. "He's so beautiful..."

"Men are _not _beautiful." Vic corrected.

"But he's not a man." Helena replied happily. "He's my beautiful baby boy."

Vic decided not to correct her this time. "What does he want this time?" He sighed.

Huntress glared at him. "He's a baby, Q, he needs a lot of attention. You don't have to be a grump."

"I'm not being a grump."

"I'm sorry, a _huge _grump." She corrected herself. "What's with you lately?"

"Nothing." Vic said quickly. "It's just, well, we haven't, uh, done anything in a while and I'm getting, uh..."

"Oh? _Oh!_" Helena exclaimed as she caught his drift. "Jeez, why didn't you say something, moron. I already told you I was going to have you tonight, calm down." She rocked their son in her arms. "I think he's hungry."

Vic was about to respond that he would gladly buy the younger redhead a cheeseburger _after _he had thoroughly made love to the mother of his children when Helena absently tugged off the lower half of her nightgown and removed one luscious breast.

Helena was to busy attempting to feed her picky child to notice Vics' stare. "Uh..." Q trailed off as he watched the infant latch on to his mothers' breast and begin to eat.

Helena suddenly noticed the look on Vics' face. "What?"

"Nothing." He muttered. It really wasn't fair; those were supposed to be _his_.

"What do you think he's going to do? Take them away from you?" Helena scowled. "You know they're there for things other than you playing with them."

"I know that." He said defensively.

Helena was about to inform him that he would get his share _after _their son was satisfied when she was aware of her name being called. "Mama!" "What?" Helena called back. "I'm feeding your brother!"

"But there's a bug in here!" Bella called back. "And it's on my ceiling!"

"Kill it!" Helena suggested. "Use your shoe!"

"But it's a _spider_!" The seven-year-old squealed. "It's, like, the size of my face!"

Huntress rolled her eyes and gently dislodged her son. "Here." She smirked while placing him in Vics' arms. "Take your kid."

"But-"

"I'll be right back, God!" Helena exclaimed in exasperation. Honestly, he was acting like a toddler who had gotten his favorite toy taken away. _Well, toys. _She thought as she walked out of the room.

She knew he was in the mood and had been for much longer than she cared to think about and that the no sex rule had been a huge pain for them both. But hey, going from having an awesome six-pack to a giant belly didn't exactly do a lot to make a girl feel sexy. Besides, while Helena enjoyed being dirty and keeping it hot in bed, she had to draw the line at that.

Something about the thought of having your man work his way over you while you had a baby in you was a little to weird for her. Plus, all those important doctors said babies could hear things in the womb, and Helena did _not _feel like explaining to a young child what those weird noises he always heard were.

Q stared down at the infant in his arms. The smaller redhead looked up at him curiously and began to suck on his thumb. Vic took a second to marvel at how unbelievably fragile his son was before remembering he was slowly having his job taken away from him by the bundle in his grasp. "Yeah, well, just remember I saw them first." He grumbled.

It was very unfair; once Helena had gotten pregnant her breasts had swelled up and practically doubled in size. While Helena considered this annoying, Vic was praying to God that she would cave and he could have her incredible chest at his mercy. The one time he wasn't permitted to touch her she was unintentionally driving him wild with desire.

While Vic absolutely loved the little guy, he did have needs. The problem was so did little Charles who Helena seemed to have given all of her time too. The infant looked up at him again and Vic swore the little rugrat looked smug as if to say _But who's she giving them to now, old man?_

"Besides; I get to use them long after you do." Q replied somewhat smugly; and deep down he couldn't help but feel like he won the debate. Charles ignored him and decided to attempt to roll onto the mattress. "No." Vic corrected as he readjusted his grasp on the squirming child. "You might have been made here but you have your own bed. Just because your mother lets you in here doesn't mean you get to stay."

"Aw, is my biggest baby arguing with my youngest?" Helena teased as she wandered back into the room.

"Of course not." Vic huffed in slight embarrassment. "Do you really think I would try to engage debate with someone who can fit their foot into their mouth?"

Helen ignored his comment. "Does little Charlie want to play?" She cooed.

Charles Victor Szazs grinned; he knew this game very, very well. "Of course he does are you kidding m-oh, wait, you were talking to hi-never mind."

Helena laughed as she took Charlie into her arms. "Aw, you've got your poor Daddy thinking like Mommy does." She turned back to Vic with a smirk. "Just let me put him to bed and I'm yours. Then we can play with _that _little Charlie."

"Finally." Vic muttered before he could stop himself. Helena turned to walk out of the room when Vic suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder. "No, you stay." Before she could protest he added, "Every time you leave we don't get to...entertain ourselves. Let me put him to sleep."

Helena felt her body relax as she once again handed her baby boy back to Vic, kissing his forehead gently. "Okay, but if he starts to cry again-"

"I know, I know." Vic sighed. "Just get on the bed and get ready."

"Already am." Helena assured him, giving him a playful smack on the butt as Vic exited the bedroom.

"Save that energy for later." Vic sent her a heated stare. "You're going to need it."

He heard Helena laugh as he quickly shuffled into the hall. "Look here son," He began. "Mommy and I both love you very much, but I need to be loved, too. So you're going to be nice and quiet, okay?"

Charlie looked at him strangely before erupting in a fit of giggles. "See." Sighed Vic wistfully. "That's what I very nicely asked you not to do."

"What's going on?" Asked Bella as she entered the small hall. He gaze instantly fell onto her brother. "Charlie's okay, right?"

"Of course." Vic assured her. "You're brother's just going to sleep now. On that subject, why aren't you in bed?"

"There was a spider the size of Kansas on my ceiling; no way was I letting that thing crawl into my mouth and make me accidentally swallow it." Bella scowled. Her gaze softened as she looked at her darling little brother, "Can I hold him?"

Vic felt his denied jealousy melt and felt it be replaced by a much warmer feeling; love. "Of course." He said quietly, bending down and gently placing the infant in her arms.

"He's really small." Bella observed. "And he kind of looks like a leprechaun, you know, with all the red hair."

"I have red hair, does that make me a leprechaun?"

"No, you're too tall." She shrugged as she handed back her brother. "Can you tuck me in?"

"Well..." Vic felt his gaze travel back to his bedroom door.

"Please?"

"But your mother smells like coconut." Vic protested.

"Daddy!"

"Alright." Vic sighed in defeat as he guided her into her room. "Lay down." The young girl complied, lifting up the covers and snuggling underneath them while waiting patiently for her father to preform the nightly ritual. She turned back to her Daddy. "Well?"

"Good night." He said softly, giving her a light peck on the cheek. He quickly moved to leave the small room.

"Uh, hello!" Bella rolled her eyes in exasperation, wondering why Daddy was in such a hurry.

"What?"

"You didn't say it." She sulked.

A blank look; then, "Oh." He wondered when he had gotten so single-minded when it came to sex. He decided to blame it on the ban Helena had put on him. "Good night, I love you."

"There you go." She smiled. "And I love you, too."

"Good." Vic nodded, strolling out of the room once more and entering the one across the hallway. He gently placed the infant into the small crib, absently touching Charles' bright red hair.

For a moment Vic couldn't help but marvel at what he had created with Helena; two beautiful children who would most likely be able to kill a man with their bare hands by the time they were ten. He placed the now sleeping child in his crib and placed a soft kiss on his sons' cheek, whispering his affection before once again leaving and re-entering Helenas' room.

"So, are you ready?" She purred.

"Absolutely." He said quickly, feeling his energy return to him. "Are you?"

"Lay down and I'll show you." She replied smoothly. He did as he was told, pulling her against him and running a hand through her hair. "Are you okay?"

He nodded slowly. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

"You, me, our children, sex..."

"All the good things in life." Helena agreed, cuddling to his side.

"You know, I wasn't expecting this." Vic admitted.

"Expecting what?"

"Us. The first time it was amazing, and I never thought we'd get a second shot." He explained.

"Yeah." She agreed softly. "We got really lucky." She suddenly turned to him, a heated and playful look on her face. "So, are we going to do this or what?"

Vic just smiled. "That is the question."

**End**

* * *

**A/N I think the main reason for writing a longer HQ story is because there's so little material about them out there (at least to me). Everyone says they love them, but most of the stories on here on BMWW which only bugs me because they were never really a couple (which might actually be why there's so much about them), they were just implied to like each other. Big name couples get all of the love, and the rest are overshadowed. Being an HQ fan kinda sucks because we tend to get a rare one-shot and that's about it, and while those are good longer stories just seem so much better.**

**Lack of reading material bites, I love to write for them but I really like reading about them too. So, if anyone wants to or is planning on writting an HQ fic no matter how short it is I will totally read/review it. But enough of my ranting, OCs are hard and I while I normally don't like them I tried to make mine not a Mary-Sue or unlikable. It's kinda hard since parents love their kids, but you don't want their love to be to OOC or unnatural. Eh, I tried.**

**Thank you all so much for reading:)**


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